Street Fighter: The Dream of a Warrior
by VirusX
Summary: UPDATED! Chapter Twelve (12) UP! Street Fighter story based on most of the characters, based on the story line of Street Fighter 1 all the way to Street Fighter 2 (including the Alphas). Beware, much of this story is edited. R&R PLEASE!
1. Satso no Hadou Awakens

Disclaimer: This is _just_ a fan fiction on Street Fighter. Much of it is based on the true storyline of Street Fighter, but many parts are simply added/made-up as well.

Note: This fanfiction uses Ansatsuken instead of Shotokan, and Gouki instead of Akuma, Nash instead of Charlie, and it uses the Japanese names for Vega, M. Bison, and Balrog. Vega is the main evil character in Street Fighter Alpha 3, wearing the red clothes. M. Bison is the boxer, and Balrog is the Spanish bullfighter with claws and a metal mask. Stick with the Japanese, readers.

**[ S t r e e t F i g h t e r 1 ( P a r t 1 ) ]**

…Every thing has a beginning… what begun fighting?

In the story of what a life of a fighter can be, Street Fighters from around the world suck in their problems and decide to become what they are. They fight wherever, whenever, and for whatever reason fate leads them to. Do fighters believe in fate?

The Dream of a Warrior first intensified between a legendary battle between two men, that was slowly shredded away from history throughout the years. But at the time, this legendary battle echoed throughout the world. Street Fighters, who were mainly known to be surpassingly brutal, and bloodthirsty, have a dream of their own. For failing such a dream, the warrior can react in countless ways.. some ways are too hard to describe in speech.

**[Street Fighting Stadium, Thailand]**

The Battle began when two warriors first set foot on the incredibly large stadium, set in the country of Thailand. It was the beginning of the very first Street Fighter Tournament in the world. These two men had to perfect their techniques every single day, thinking if they could beat the next challenger. This ambition led them to the top of the tournament. The first man, named Sagat, was such a pride to Thailand that he was given the honorific title "The Emperor of Muay Thai". His Muay Thai fighting skills were countless. Sagat was remarkably tall, one of his feared characteristics.

One the other hand stood a smaller warrior, who looked much younger. A high percentage of the crowd began to believe that this man, named Ryu, was no match for Sagat. Ryu looked rather plain, wearing formal karate clothes, with a white bandana tied around his head. Ryu, however, showed no fear to Sagat's smirk down at him. But Sagat himself knew that he shouldn't take Ryu easily. Ryu had made it this far in the tournament. His size and looks didn't matter.

All the previous battles seemed to have gone by so fast… Ryu didn't know himself how he defeated his previous enemies. It seemed that he was dreaming of being an unstoppable fighter and now, when meeting the strongest of them all, waking up suddenly. He didn't know much about Sagat, except that he was his opponent. He didn't know of Sagat's famous techniques. Knowing this, Ryu didn't know how he would start out the battle. Should he let Sagat charge at him or should he do that himelf?

"And now, ladies and gentlemen," the speaker announced finally with his microphone, "The moment you've all been waiting for. The Emperor of Muay Thai has finally met his final match. Ryu has succeeded in reaching all the way here. This is the ultimate fight!"

The crowd yelled loudly, many of them insulting either Ryu or Sagat. The two of them, however, didn't seem to care about the crowd. They stared at each other straight in the eye. Ryu could read great power running through Sagat's muscular body, and Sagat—he could see that this was going to be one fight he would not forget. It took about a minute for the crowd to stop and wait for them to strike, as a man walked up to the field with a flag in each of his hands. The right flag showed a picture of Sagat, and the left flag showed a picture of Ryu.

"Approach each other, please," the man said. Ryu and Sagat did so, but only close enough to bow to each other slightly.

"3…  
2…..  
1….  
……Fight!"

Ryu flipped back to dodge a very quick punch from Sagat. It was a rather surprising way to start the match. But knowing that he had missed very closely, Sagat smirked once again, being more confident in himself. The crowd erupted louder than ever, cheering and watching as Ryu slid to the right to dodge another quick-attack from Sagat. It was no doubt a bad start for Ryu.

Sagat turned his head and spotted Ryu, and charged at him with full speed. Ryu, being far enough to perfect his fighting stance, lowered his body with his knees, keeping the right side of the body ahead. He kept the left leg on the ground from the tip, so that he could quickly attack when needed to. Sagat didn't seem affected by the stance, and jabbed straight in, only to hit Ryu's defending arm. Ryu then quickly leaped into the air at Sagat's head-level, with his right leg straight, and left leg down. He remained in this position as he spinned around in circles, like a cyclone, hitting Sagat's head repeatedly. As he did this, he shouted, "_Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku!_"

The cyclone was too fast to dodge, but Sagat managed to "_Tiger Uppercut!_"—jumping up in the air so high, the crowd looked up at him, even the ones on the highest platforms. His uppercut was too strong for Ryu's Hurricane Kick, the _Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku_. Ryu was hit three times in just a single uppercut, and toppled to the edge of the battling field, managing to stay in and not fall out.

"Well, it seems like the match has already gotten serious," the speaker announced.

Ryu flipped onto his feet and noted Sagat once again launching at him. He launched back at him, and this time elbowed into Sagat's ribs, followed by full-packed punches. The ferocity drove Sagat to sliding across the field, but he did not fall. Ryu fixed his white gloves and tightened his white bandana. Sagat gritted his teeth.

Once again, they both bolted at each other. Sagat vaulted in the air and crashed his elbow into Ryu's head. The sound of the crash echoed everywhere. But, as loud as it sounded, it wasn't much to Ryu, who unconnected Sagat's elbow and vaulted up also, off the ground, and fixed his knee into Sagat's face. He kicked off and planted his feet back in the grassy field again, watching Sagat struggling with the pain. Ryu did notice, however, that he had thrown all his strength into that knee-in, and Sagat was dealing with it better than he had expected.

And indeed, Sagat recovered in less than fifteen seconds. After thinking quickly, Ryu leaped up and shot a kick towards Sagat, who grabbed his leg and swung him around in a circle. It happened so suddenly it almost seemed Sagat was going easy on Ryu. And the speed of his swinging Ryu around was extremely fast. Ryu helplessly waited for Sagat's next action so that he could make the next move, and it came after what seemed like hours. Sagat released Ryu with all the energy he could give into the air. The crowd jumped as, amazingly, Ryu broke the fall in mid-air, and formed an open leg, bolting back at Sagat. Caught by surprise, Sagat received quite an impact when the kick stroked his chest.

"Amazing, folks!" the speaker announced. "The Emperor of Muay Thai was completely off guard! He didn't see that coming…"

Sagat got up and took his hand off his chest, controlling his breathing rate. It seemed like he was going to say something to Ryu, but the Emperor of Muay Thai never really talked in a fight. His belief was that talking lowers your focus on the fight. You talk either to brag or emphasize the opponent, and you do not want to do either of that. It's the _fight_, that matters.

He knew that Ryu was a natural fighter—not many people were able to fight as good against the Muay Thai fighting style. He knew this because, earlier in the tournament, Ryu had fought and defeated Adon, another user of the Muay Thai fighting style. However, Adon was only Sagat's student, not as skilled in Muay Thai as he was. 

Sagat looked into Ryu's eyes…and saw a number of things. Determination, Courage, Strength, even Respect.. and above all—an enormous desire, or _dream_, to win.

** [Masters' Domain, USA]**

The Ansatsuken fighting style had been passed down rarely. At a few points, it was even at the point of perishing, because some masters who wielded the style didn't want any new successor. Ryu and Ken, both the latest successors of Ansatsuken, were taught by Gouken, their master. They both found this destiny in a different path, however. Ryu grew up on the streets, until he met a man named Gouken, who could see magnificent spirit in him, and decided to adopt and teach him Ansatsuken. However, Ken Masters, who was a very wealthy person living in USA, had a hard time living a normal life. He was a very mischievous youth and grew up getting in trouble every where he went—clubs, restaurants, parties, and school. Due to this daily issue, his father, highly respected man and owner of the wealth of the Masters' family, sent Ken to Gouken in Japan so that he could learn the Ansatsuken style and learn how difficult life is.

The style did revolutionize both their lives. After forming a firm internal spirit of fighting, Ryu created a _dream_ to become the greatest fighter among all others. Ken, on the other hand, formed a very odd rivalry with Ryu in fighting throughout their training. If there was any dream Ken had, it was to keep up with Ryu's abilities. After training and completing the necessary task of Ansatsuken taught by Gouken, both Ryu and Ken departed their master and once again, went their own separate ways, in their own separate paths. Perhaps their paths will intersect once again?

But both Ryu and Ken worked hard after becoming Ansatsuken fighters, to make their dreams come true. Ryu, with little of what he had by himself, heard about the first official Street Fighter Tournament. Full of excitement running through him, Ryu began traveling around the world looking for good fighters to battle against and perfect his own battling skills. Ken, with his own dream of keeping up to Ryu and giving him the best fight they ever have the next time they meet, went back to USA and, to keep up with his fighting spirit, fought in all of the US Martial Arts Tournaments thereon. There was no tournament that he could not win, it was a breeze for him with his skills. These skills led his wealthy family, the Masters, to even more fame and admiring. They had a special trophy room lined with all the trophies Ken had won. They were Ken's only pride.

While the battle in the SF Tournament drew to its final match, Ken, not knowing about the tournament, continued participating in US Martial Arts tournaments. He had just won yet another Martial Arts tournament, and was coming home with another trophy in his hand. On the trophy was engraved _Ken Masters, the unstoppable fire ripping through an unlimited field._

After reaching home, Ken rushed over to his dad, with a new idea in his mind. It was an odd day to see Ken have a newer plan besides a new tournament to his dad, however…

"Dad, I was thinking of going back and meeting my master," he told his dad.

"Well, that is a surprise!" his father replied. "I thought you disliked him?"

"Dad, if I did dislike him I would not have used the style to fight," he replied.

"Point understood," his father said. "So what do you want to go back for now?"

"I feel empty," Ken claimed, smiling. "You know—of my master—Gouken… I have seen Gouken fight. I believe he never taught us some moves, to neither me nor Ryu."

"Ken, do you think going back now will make him teach you those moves, if he has them in the first place?"

"Yes," Ken said. "Perhaps I will even meet Ryu."

"Ken, you think you know everything," his father said shaking his head. "You haven't really _seen_ Gouken fight."

"What do you mean?" Ken said. "Hey—wait a minute! You _know_ how Gouken fights!"

"Yes, I do," his father replied. "I myself told Gouken to not teach you the complete Ansatsuken."

"WHAT?!" Ken erupted. "WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR? I WANTED TO BECOME THE BEST. HE PROBABLY TAUGHT ALL THAT TO RYU!"

"Calm down, Ken," his father said closing his eyes. "You are still a child. You do not know the dark secrets about fighting, and especially about this style. You might learn later on. Right now, you are not ready."

Ken lowered his head. He full-heartedly agreed with his dad. When Ken once decided to knock Gouken out-cold (so that he could blame it on Ryu), Gouken acted more than necessary. His extreme power had caused the wooden-house to blast into pieces. Therefore, Ken had had to train outside for a week as Gouken quickly built a shed for him and Ryu to train in. Ryu had found this amusing.

"Well anyway—" Ken quickly shook his head and popped back into reality. His father continued. "I will book you a ticket to Japan. I am sure there are many things you still have to learn. I do not expect you to come back early."

"Thanks, dad," Ken said.

**[Gouken's Domain, Japan]**

Ken had just landed from the plane two hours ago, yet he was in the area of Gouken's domain already. It was a very beautiful, grassy place, a perfect place to train in. There were three mountains that surrounded the domain, and one very tall mountain on which Ryu and Ken used to race up on, either hiking or climbing. There were also springs that could be seen everywhere. Ken usually used to rest in one of the hidden springs to escape from the rough training given by his master, Gouken. Gouken never had really tried to find Ken much either, because he took Ken to be more of a burden when he first received him as an apprentice.

"Let's see," Ken wondered. "This path leads to—No wait!...that hill goes up to his house….no that was Ryu's cabin—oh wait!—That was the one!.. no…"

Having a hard time figuring out where Gouken's dojo was, Ken scratched the back of his head waiting for something to happen that will tell him where to go. And indeed, something did happen.

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!_"

A high-pitched scream, a couple of loud crashes, and Ken suddenly figured out the right path. He dashed up a hill as fast as he could and spotted Gouken's large dojo. "What the hell is wrong?!" he asked himself as he ran as fast as he could towards it. He could hear more crashes, and more screams, "Stop, please!" and "Stop, father!" and one that was different from them all, "_Shun Goku Satsu._"

Ken finally approached the door and opened it. And he was blinded by an incredible white flash of light that covered the whole internal dojo. Ken had to shield his eyes until the light was gone. After about a minute, he analyzed the scene. There was a crying girl with her knees on the floor, who Ken recognized as Gouken's daughter. And there was Gouken himself, lying on the floor, dead. And there was another man standing right behind Gouken's body, facing the opposite direction of Ken. Ken could see a strange mark on his back, shining brightly red. It was the kanji known as _ Heaven_. It was…

天

And after a few seconds, the mark faded as if it had fused with his body.

The scene happened too suddenly to react suddenly to. Ken's eyes were wide open, and tears instantly formed inside of them. He had hardly cried, and at the moment he had not even a feeling in his heart. Not sadness, anger, or anything. Yet the tears streamed down his face. The picture of his master dead and a man with a strange mark—it was too much to make sense out of.

And finally, as the man with the mark swung around very slowly, with his face turning to see Ken, the emotion came to him. Ken could feel anger running through his blood.

"YOU!" He shouted angrily. "Who the hell are you, you bastard?! You killed my master! YOU KILLED HIM!!"

Ken didn't wait for an answer, and charged directly at him. "_Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku_!—Arghhhh!!!!.."

Ken only had the chance to say it, but not perform the actual move. Before he could even do his Hurricane Kick, he was jabbed in the stomach and crashed into a wall. The impact caused the wall to break down and Ken to collapse outside the Dojo. Not being able to get up, he let himself slide through the dusty, grassy ground until he stopped. The man walked outside.

"Gouken's apprentice," he said in a rough tone. "I believe Gouken had another one. Where is the other one?"

"You bastard," Ken responded, sitting up. "Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell a bastard like you."

"Very spirited, you are," the man replied slowly, walking up to him. "One would say you'd be stronger if Gouken's stupid act of toning down Ansatsuken hadn't possessed you."

"Toning…down…?"

"The foolish successor of a fool," he said. "What you have learned is not Ansatsuken."

"Oh yeah?" Ken said. "Then name your fighting style."

"I _use_ Ansatsuken," he replied. "This is the true Ansatsuken, and I am the only man with the fists to master it. Gouki. Your master was a fool because he believed the true Ansatsuken was too deadly to be passed on. So he basically created a weaker, pathetic form of Ansatsuken and taught it to you."

_Gouken…wouldn't do that?_ Ken thought.

"So why'd you kill my master?!" Ken said angrily. He managed to get back up and this time waited for the man, Gouki, to tell him why before he would attack him.

"That concerns only me and Gouken," Gouki said. "That is all you need to know, weakling."

Ken angrily dealt with the fact that he was no match for this man named Gouki, and attacked him without thinking. Gouki seemed to be playing with him, easily dodging his moves as if they were coming a mile away for him to see. Ken jumped away and drew his hands together to release blue energy from his hands in between. The energy collected and formed into a ball of energy.

"_Hadouken!_" Ken shouted, hurling the energy towards Gouki. Gouki easily formed a fireball of his own in his hand triple times faster than Ken, and shot it at him. The two fireballs battled and Ken's, being smaller than Gouki's, gave in and let Gouki's fireball hit him in the chest. He fell backwards and couldn't breathe for about a minute.

"Pathetic," Gouki said slowly. "I didn't expect Gouken to get off track of Ansatsuken's rules _this_ much. I have to conclude that your style is not Ansatsuken at all. It might as well be renamed."

It was a long pause, and Ken could still hear Gouken's daughter crying inside the dojo. Gouki seemed to be thinking about something. After a while, he said, "I don't have any time for more games."

"Stop!" Ken said, getting back up as Gouki walked off. "I will have to kill you even if it costs my life!"

Ken dashed at him once more and attacked with thoughtless, quick punches that Gouki dodged easily. _This kid…_ Gouki thought, _He's using more strength than he has. His fists—_

Gouki noticed that Ken's fists were now establishing small winds of fire, that slowly grew into large, fire-fists. _His fists are flaming as if he's a true Ansatsuken fighter—yet he's not. Although his Hadouken was a failure, his Shoryuken may indeed be—!_

"_SHORYUU REPPA!_"

It was as if Gouki had predicted it coming. Ken switched his thoughtless quick-punches to a series of three uppercuts—one small, one higher, and one highest. Gouki didn't bother to dodge the technique. He let the burning fists hit him all three times, and purposely threw himself backwards, far enough to be hidden behind the grassy field.

**[Street Fighter Stadium, Thailand]**

The match intensified as both Ryu and Sagat pushed themselves harder than they could. They were basically trying to knock each other down hard enough for them to never get up, but only in vain. They were both too strong to give up that easily. Strength didn't matter in such a fight—only skill did.

Trying to find a chance to hit Ryu with all his might, Sagat kept throwing weak, fast punches at Ryu. Ryu didn't have much chance to act, and he himself was waiting for something to happen. He was being driven all the way to the edge of the field. Here, if Ryu was going to be cornered, he would never be able to attack. He now understood Sagat's plan, and knowing so he crouched down and slipped behind Sagat. Then he swirled around and slid his foot across the field to hit Sagat's legs so that he could fall, but Sagat acted fast and leaped in the air to avoid that. He then tried to crush Ryu in the fall, but Ryu used his hands to flip of the floor and onto his feet.

Sagat gritted his teeth. It seemed like he was out of tactics, but Ryu soon proved himself wrong. Sagat moved his hands in front of his chest, facing up. He formed energy in his hand quickly and shot it at Ryu. It was a fireball—and a quick one. Ryu ducked and easily dodged the fireball. Due to Sagat's height the fireball just flew above his head. But Sagat was smart himself, and launched another fireball and aimed this one downwards. Ryu jumped up to dodge it. He shot another, upwards, and Ryu ducked again. And another one, downwards, and another jump for Ryu.

It was like a rhythm. Ryu couldn't do anything but dodge them. And then Sagat shot one in the middle, which hit Ryu directly in the chest. It was a very strong fireball, as Ryu noted. Sagat didn't wait, and launched another one, downwards, while Ryu was still on the floor. Ryu missed this one very closely by rolling to the side, and getting on his feet. Sagat didn't stop throwing fireballs. He was like a fireball machine. Fast _and_ Strong.

"And the Muay Thai Champion pulls off another tactic, folks!" the announcer said after a long while of being silent. "Ryu is having a hard time dealing with that!"

Ryu, having an idea in his head, kept crouching on every high fireball and jumping on every low fireball, each time moving forward little by little. After a while he was close enough to attack Sagat up-close, but Sagat responded with a "_Tiger Uppercut!_" which caught him by surprise, sending him flying in the air.

"Incredible!" the speaker said once again. "Sagat is really fast from switching from a fireball to a close-range combat!"

Ryu had noticed that as well. And yet, Sagat didn't wait for Ryu to get up and kept the fireballs going once again. Ryu was too far from Sagat to get hit by the fireballs. Most of them just crashed in the ground, and some that almost got to him just faded because Sagat was too far. Noting this, Sagat decided to just finish off the battle for good. He launched at Ryu, who was still in too much pain to counter, and punched him in the ribs hard enough to make sure he wouldn't be able to get back up. There was a long pause and silence across the stadium as Sagat looked at Ryu suffering with pain. Knowing he had already won, Sagat decided to help the spirited young warrior up. He walked up to Ryu and reached out his hand to him.

"Well, it looks like it's all Sagat for this match also, folks," the speaker said.

Ryu looked up at Sagat's hand. 

_It cannot end like this……it won't!_

The thoughts whirled through Ryu's brain like electricity. Sagat moved his hand closer to him. Ryu gritted his teeth. He was unable to move, so weak at the moment he couldn't lift his hand to Sagat's—and he didn't want to lose. And Sagat, looking into Ryu's eyes again, noticed the same thing—only in bigger values. It was the same determination, the same courage, the same _dream_ to win!—except it was more this time. He couldn't tell if it was _more_ or _most_, but he could tell that it was the most he had ever seen in a warrior's eyes. Sagat suddenly came to the fact that Ryu was nearly obsessed with winning… _what the hell is wrong with this guy…?_

And then, just when Sagat was about to lower his hand—it was like he was seeing a whole new warrior. Still staring into Ryu's eyes, Sagat noticed them turning blue. First they shined blue, and then they were all _possessed_ with blue. But only Sagat noticed this blue light in his eyes, the rest of the crowd didn't notice it. Was he dreaming? And then, all of a sudden, Sagat's heart jumped so fast.

The warrior that Sagat had defeated, whom was lying on the ground, wasn't lying anymore. As Sagat analyzed the scene, he first saw only Ryu's face, and his eyes. The eyes were so shining blue Sagat could hardly see anything else. He looked down and saw a fist connected to his ribs. Ryu had attacked him!!!

But how could Ryu rise so quickly? It happened so fast, Sagat didn't even know it until he saw. And now that he knew what was going on, Sagat began to feel the pain. The burning fury of Ryu's fist… the friction of it just sliding up his chest. Sagat screeched loudly, but his voice wasn't coming out. Why wasn't his voice being heard? Was he deaf? He only felt pain, pain at its maximum. Slowly, Ryu's fist ripped through most of Sagat's chest and began to rise quickly. Sagat noticed, that this was an attack he knew. But what was it? The first hit was Ryu connecting his fist against Sagat's ribs. The second hit was the fist sliding up, across Sagat's chest…. And Sagat knew, there was definitely a third hit.

And so the third hit came, and Sagat recognized the attack. This was an uppercut, the _Shoryuken_! But this was not the Shoryuken that Ryu used, was it? Ryu's Shoryuken was only a single-hit uppercut. This one was a triple-hit uppercut. And the unlimited power that was packed into those three hits… this was not the Ryu that Sagat knew of. This was not Ryu. The third hit was the rising hit, where the user rises along with his opponent, sending him crashing to a distance.

Blood showered the field below, a whole lot of blood. Most of it was coming from the dreadful wound on Sagat's chest, and some of it was coming from Ryu's fist, which had performed such a powerful _Shoryuken_. Ryu couldn't hear anything, not the crowd, not the speaker. As he stared at the body of Sagat flying across and crashing far, far away from the stadium, he suddenly felt a slight smile on his face. Was he happy to uppercut Sagat so violently? He didn't know…and how could he, anyway, when right now he couldn't think for himself…?

He felt dizzy, and his eyes closed as he collapsed on the red, bloody field.

** [Gouken's Domain, Japan]**

"Master?"

The door swung open and banged on the wall next to it. Ryu stood on the doorway, holding a white bag behind his back as he looked around the dojo.

After Ryu had defeated Sagat severely and Ryu had been recovered in the Thailand hospital (the people were insulting him every now and then for 'beating Sagat by cheat'), he remembered what happened by a few events. He remembered that he was losing to Sagat, and something took over his body. He couldn't control anything. And he remembered uppercutting Sagat to the point of making him bleed. He didn't know what happened to him, but he did notice happiness. He felt happy when the body took over. He was smirking at the drops of blood showering the field, and causing the friction of his uppercut to make Sagat bleed. He even felt happy that he was _ stronger_ at that point, although it was something that made him stronger. He wanted even more power. And by then he had lost that something that took over his body.

And then after Ryu was done from the hospital, he decided to go see his master, Gouken, to ask him what had happened to him when he uppercutted Sagat. His master had told him that one day, he will feel like winning is the only thing that matters, and losing is not an option.

"Master?" Ryu's voice echoed once again across the dojo. Ryu didn't need a response anymore though. He saw his master—lying on the floor a distance away from him.

"Master?!" Ryu slipped over to him and checked. He was dead. "How?!—HOW!!"

"He was murdered."

Ryu looked and caught sight of Gouken's daughter. "You?"'

"Yes, me," she said, walking down the stairs of the dojo over to Ryu.

"By who?" Ryu asked.

"Gouki," she replied.

"Gouki…"

"My uncle," she said.

"You—had an uncle?" Ryu was shocked.

"Father made me promise never to tell you. But now that he is dead, the truth cannot be hidden. And I know that I couldn't hide the fact from you."

And suddenly Ryu felt it once again. A feeling of triumph, a huge desire to win—but he wasn't battling anyone at the moment…then why?

_It's his Chi...I can feel it. Gouki is around here somewhere. He has not gone far…_

"My father and Gouki were both taught the Ansatsuken style by their master, Goutetsu," Gouken's daughter continued. "They were taught the true fighting style. What you learned was a weaker version of the style—Father taught you a weaker version because he didn't want you to kill. The true style is very violent and almost invincible. Goutetsu also taught both of them the strongest attack of Ansatsuken, Shun Goku Satsu, also known as—_The Raging Demon_."

"If both of them knew how to use that technique, why did Master lose to Gouki?" Ryu asked.

"Father didn't like to kill," she said. "The technique was created to instantly kill one in the speed of only fifteen supersonic hits. The hits are so powerful and fast that you cannot see them coming—only feel them striking your body. All you see is a white burst of light being unleashed from the user's fists…"

She paused for a moment, wondering something, and then continued.

"After they both departed their master, Gouki perfected his killing techniques and Father didn't practice them, thus growing weaker himself. That is why. Gouki also killed Goutetsu."

"He killed his own master?"

She nodded. "That is why one would hesitate to teach his apprentice the true Ansatsuken style. He may betray and kill you—and prove to be a threat to society… Anyway, you may go now. I don't want any more violence in this domain ever again. This will be a domain of peace—not a fighting dojo anymore."

She walked back to the stairs and stopped on her first step, adding, "If you are planning on fighting Gouki, then be careful is all I can say. He has the Raging Demon, you don't." Then she walked back up the stairs silently. Ryu stood up and looked down at his master's dead body. He grabbed his bag, took out a trophy with the words "Street Fighter Tournament, Winner: Ryu" and placed it next to his master. Getting up with his bag behind his shoulder, he walked out on a quest to find out what evil power took over him. He knew that only one person had all the answers.

_Gouki, you killed my master. I will avenge his death… Wait for me…_

**[ E n d o f S t r e e t F I g h t e r 1 ( P a r t 1 ) ]**


	2. The Emperor of Muay Thai

**[ S t r e e t F i g h t e r A l p h a (2) ( P a r t 2 ) ]**

**[Shadaloo Base, Italy]**

A girl with purple hair and a long, red cloak, walked across a dark room with a floor so shiny you could see your reflection in it. She looked around, and finally after hearing something fall as she was waiting for something to happen, she quickly hurled a blast of energy in the air, lighting the whole area. Looking around more, she couldn't see anything until she finally noticed a man who was barely visible with the red oil tanks placed behind him. His clothes were all red, and almost camouflaged his body. The man just stood there. After a long moment of staring at each other, the girl finally spoke:

"Who are you?"

The man looked at for a little while, and then made a fighting stance. "My name's not important to a useless pile of trash."

"Excuse me, sir, but do you even know me?" she asked.

"You don't look evil," the man said, breaking his stance after looking at her more. "You seem too harmless to even deal with. So tell me—" he walked towards her—"Where is the rest of your party?"

"Party?" she replied. "What party?"

"Shadaloo. You're not going to fool me. I know this is their base in Italy."

"I, too, knew that," she said. "You must be after Shadaloo as well."

The man smiled and reached out his hand towards her. "Hi, I'm Guy."

"Well, nice to meet you," she said, shaking it. "You may call me Rose."

They finally let each other's hands go, and then looked around more. The area didn't have much. It was very large, and the floor was too slippery with its incredible cleanliness. Regarding this, everything had been perfectly placed—as if no one had came to this place and touched these items a bit to make them slide across the floor. But that was soon proven wrong by Rose. She looked back at the oil tanks that hid Guy, and noticed there was something inside them instead of oil.

"So," Guy said, "…I knew of this base a long time ago, but didn't plan to come until Shadaloo finally arrived. I spotted their plane on the sky last night, and knew obviously they were heading for their base."

"They must be clever," Rose said, floating and making a sitting-down pose in the air, as if an imaginary chair was beneath her. "They must have made another base, just in case."

Guy was too surprised at Rose's floating ability to respond, and after a while, asked, "How'd you do that?"

Rose laughed. "I was…well…born this way."

"Can't one learn it?" Guy asked.

"No," she replied. "Supernatural abilities come from the heart."

"…I have seen warriors producing energy just like you did, except that one didn't light rooms up," Guy said thoughtfully. "It was used in battles. It was unlike my hand of flames, though."

"Hand of flames?"

Instead of describing it, Guy decided to perform it out. He faced the oil tanks and held his hand back behind his shoulder. Then quickly he thrust his hand forward, making it emit flames from the tip. Rose quickly faded to the flames' path and stopped it with her energy.

"Not fair!" Guy said. "You ruined the Bushin style's reputation…"

"Those were not ordinary tanks," Rose said. "They're explosive."

"Oh…."

"Well, anyway," Rose said. "Those fireballs come from the internal body. They have nothing to do with strength. You release the energy from your body, it just comes from meditation. The source of your meditation travels through your arms and out from your fingertips, thus causing it to collect between the imaginary sphere made by forming your hands in such a way."

"Wow…." Guy said after Rose stopped. "You're such a mind killer."

"…"

"We should get serious," Guy said quickly, "Do you want to find Vega together?"

"No," Rose said firmly.

"Come on," Guy said. "It'll be the work of one person in double the speed."

"No," she said once again. "My path of reaching Shadaloo is different than yours. Much different."

"Well, if it was _that_ different then we would not have reached this place at the same time," Guy said in a sarcastic manner. "And besides, you know nothing about _my_ way of reaching Shadaloo anyway."

"Okay," Rose said. "I am not interested either. I have no time for this. I must find and destroy Vega as soon as possible."

"But…hey!...Wait—"

But Guy had no time to wait for a response. She had faded away. Guy turned angry.

"You psycho powered teleporting freak!" he yelled in the now empty room. And then, thinking over his quote, it finally ticked him. _Psycho_ powered freak…

**[Hospital, Thailand]**

It was another new man in another new world. Coming out from a hospital, Adon looked around and up into the sun's rays of light shining down at him. He was a strange man wearing a red, flat over his head, and the rest of his body was barely clothed. And the sun was facing the same direction Adon was going to head first—to anywhere where he could become stronger.

"Sagat..I thought you were my master," Adon said. "The Emperor of Muay Thai, lost to an outsider. We could not have received more shame."

Adon looked at his destination once again. He began walking without a single look back at the hospital that treated him, and was currently treating Sagat. "Perhaps my fists weren't good enough to knock Ryu, but now that I know he has defeated you too, I know you are at the same level as me. I will defeat you, Sagat. I shall, after you are healed and back on your shameful feet."

**_One month later…_**

**[Shadaloo Base, Thailand]**

"Who disturbs me?"

"S-Sir…."

"You must have something important enough for me to spare your life."

"I…I apologize. But I do believe it is important."

"…"

"Someone wants to talk to you."

It was another very dark room. Almost pitch black, not even the spectacled scientist could see his master sitting on the throne-like chair, facing the other direction. The man didn't need to hide himself anymore, though. He swung around in his chair, facing the scientist. His mad blue eyes showed the scientist exactly where he was. And suddenly the lights went on, revealing the man's entire look. He was a very large, muscular man, wearing a red suit, along with a red cap. As he stood up, he revealed a long cloak behind him. And on the front-center of his back there was a very disturbing sign that showed an evil-looking skull with two wings on each side of its head. It was the Shadaloo sign.

"_Someone wants to talk to me_…." The man walked over to the frightened man. "That doesn't sound very important."

"B-but sir!" the scientist gasped for his life. "He's an enormous man with a chain who demands to see you."

"Demands to see me," the man said. "We shall see who this disrespectful bastard is."

The man moved his hand in front of the scientist and released a powerful energy, sending the man flying into a pile of liquor bottles. He laughed with his overpowered energy, watching the now dead scientist with pieces of glasses stuck inside every spot of his body. He now faded into thin air—just like Rose had. This was Vega, the psycho-powered leader of Shadaloo.

Now Vega was in a different area, inside a very long, circular and dark tunnel. Outside the tunnel stood an enormous, black man, just like the scientist had described. The man had a golden, pointy wing on his head that stood up. There were chains wrapped around him.

"Who are you, now?" Vega asked.

The man smiled slowly and stood tall, as if opposing Vega. His chains remained tightened, however. "Name's Birdie. Wish to join your so-called global organization."

Vega smirked at Birdie as if he was a pile of trash. "What makes you special enough to join? What do you possess?"

"…I can prove I am worthy enough."

"How?" Vega asked. "And…what may be your reason?"

Birdie paused. "I don't care if I have to work for free. I have no other thing to do with this strength."

"So you plan to use that strength to do evil deeds?" Vega asked. "Well, well. If there is something I love it is a man who uses all his sweat on something wrong—that tortures the society and the weak world around us."

Birdie nodded.

"We shall test you and find out just how much sweat you dropped," Vega declared. Just then, a henchman walked over to Vega and whispered something in his ears. Vega nodded and waited until the henchman left. "Duty calls," he said. "Wait here and make yourself at hell…"

Smirking once again, Vega faded and then appeared in another new sight. It was more like another tunnel, except a different one from the one before. He looked at the man standing at the end of the tunnel. It was Adon.

"Well, Mr. Adon," Vega said with an evil smirk, "We have been searching for you for quite a while now."

"Do not consider me weak just because I let your weak henchmen carry me here," Adon said.

"No, not at all," Vega responded. "If you were weak, we would not have searched for you in the first place."

Vega smirked once again, took out a long pipe and began to smoke it. Adon realized it as an illegal drug. Then he looked at Vega as he floated in the air and smoke deeply the pipe and stared at him for quite a while.

"…"

"Well, anyway," Vega said, "the deal is, you join Shadaloo and serve us as one of our top henchmen."

"…"

"I could say no to that question before you even asked," Adon said after a few seconds.

"Hmph," Vega formed an even bigger smirk this time. "Pity is, you did consider it judging by how long it took you."

"Shut up," Adon hissed. "I don't need power that controls me rather than me controlling it. Psycho power is for fools."

"Oh, but you miss the point… I actually do control Psycho Power. I can use it whenever I will."

"Pathetic," Adon said. "You would take control of a power that cheats through the value of this world. Those muscles you have formed are not yours. They were all given to you as a gift of stupidity from Psycho Power. _You are weak_ _for not relying on your own strength._"

Vega paused for a while, finished off his pipe, and threw it away. He let his feet drop on the ground and stand there while he considered of what to do with Adon. He finally came up with something to say.

"Don't you want to be the Emperor of Muay Thai?" he asked. "Yes, your rival Sagat is part of us now. I know all about it."

Adon's eyes blazed in anger. He shook uncontrollably and let out a piercing scream. While he did that, Vega snapped his finger, and one of his henchmen walked up to him and he whispered something in his ears. The henchman nodded and walked into the tunnel and down the long passage until he took a turn and disappeared.

"Sagat…SAGAT!" … "You stooped down so much to their level… you really _have_ thrown fire on the crystal known as Muay Thai. You asshole..!"

"Hmm…" Vega looked at Adon deeply into the eyes. The man showed much anger, and seriously meant what he said. Vega could tell it. He did not, however, show strength, as Vega noted. Anger was what made a man weaker.

"Where is he?!" Adon shouted. "I want to crush his bones right NOW!"

Vega laughed inside his mouth without opening it. "Your friend is not here right now. He is currently training in a glade around the forest. I did give him the opportunity to become stronger like us, unlike a fool who would lose to any warrior that came up to him. He can slice your bones in one swing even now when he has just joined us. You are the fool, you inappropriate moron. The hard work you put up everyday to become stronger…all that effort can be erased easily by joining Shadaloo. That is your weakness and many warriors alike you."

Vega's henchman returned, along with Birdie at his side. Birdie's large feet and loudness of thumping through the long tunnel made this easily notable. Vega, however, faced Adon and smiled a bit more.

"Birdie, this is your chance to prove you are worthy," Vega said loudly so that Adon could hear. "Fight and show this moron what the ambition of doing evil is like."

"Peh…and I thought you had something hard whipped up for me," Birdie said comfortably. "All right then..show me your moves, shrimp."

Birdie stepped forward. Adon didn't bother to, and stood in place looking up at the giant Birdie. Vega observed closely. _He shows no sign of fear_. _If only he was not idiotic enough to reject my offer. He could become better than even Sagat._

"Oh then, so should I take the first move?" Birdie said as he waited for Adon to attack. "All right, have it your way."

Birdie grabbed his chain and thrust it at Adon. Adon waited until the chain came close to his body, and flashed his hand in incredible speed, through the chain, making It break. Birdie gasped. Vega, however, took this as a note and smirked even more.

"Asshole! You broke my chain!" Birdie dashed at Adon in very loud thumps, but Adon waited for him once again. Birdie grabbed the rest of his chain and this time tied Adon with it around the arm. Having the advantage, Birdie thrust the chain around, sending Adon into the ground wherever he pleased. The dust surrounded the area, but not for long, for Adon began spinning in a circle, having the chain tied around him. The force was too much for Birdie to handle, so he went along with the chain as Adon spun more and more. And by the time Birdie had reached near Adon, the dust cleared up and before Birdie could blink and see what was going on, Adon smacked him up the chin hard enough to make him fall back and the chain to break in half.

Adon turned around and walked away. "I don't have time for this."

Birdie got up and looked at Vega. "You did quite well," Vega said. "You took him on for more than a minute."

Birdie didn't know how Vega felt about him. Did he think he was weak? Did he think that because he lost to Adon? He had to ask to find out. "Am I still in Shadaloo?"

Vega floated in the air once again. "You never were. But, now you are, as a mere guard for now. Be proud that your life was spared. Shadaloo doesn't value loss much. However, remember. You are to wander the external tunnels only."

"What do you mean by that?" Birdie asked.

"Stay out of the rooms unless I say to go in one. Although you may ask for my permission before coming to my chamber."

"…Why?"

"…you are a beginner. You don't have the authority to."

Vega faded in the air, leaving Birdie by himself. Birdie didn't care about being low. He just wanted to be part of Shadaloo, no matter what rank. Getting up, he went back inside the long tunnel and wandered around. He then spotted a room that was different from all. The room was closed by a gate that seemed to have been protected by lasers. Birdie noticed this by laser guns on each wall on the side of the door. But he also noticed that the lasers were off.

_They must have forgot to turn on the security..,_ Birdie thought.

He looked around. There was no one. Not any guard, no scientists. He didn't know what was beyond the large door that was being guarded so heavily compared to the other rooms. And he remembered how Vega had warned him not to go inside any rooms. But this opportunity was once in a lifetime.

Birdie looked around once again. He stepped to the door one by one, until he finally reached the line where the laser was to be shot by the laser guns. There was no laser, but then why was he afraid? It could be a trick. Birdie lifted an arm to the invisible laser area. Nothing happened. No security alarms, or mad guards running at him, or the picture of Vega in front of him finding out what he was trying to do… It seemed safe to go inside. And so, being comfortable as he was, Birdie opened the door, slipped inside, and shut it behind him.

It was an empty, small room. It seemed active, though, instead of abandoned. There were no spider webs, or sign of antique items. In fact, there were no items at all, except a chair, a desk with important papers and map plots, and—a huge, glowing device. It was two blue solid objects on the top of the device, and the bottom of the device. Between the device was beams being shot from the devices of the opposite direction. The beam was green. Birdie could sense intense energy flowing through the device, especially the beams.

"This is not my place," Birdie said, scratching his head. "I better get out of here."

Before leaving the room, Birdie caught sight of one of the papers on the desk. It read _Psycho Drive.._ He also caught sight of something else in the dark behind the device. It was two strange red figures. As he saw, the figures grew in size. Birdie left the room and scrolled down the tunnel as if he had never gone in the room.

Back in the room, the two red glowing figures finally grew to their largest size. They appeared to look like eyes with their oval shape, and a black core in the middle of them.

**[Forest Glade, Thailand]**

Adon, after leaving the Shadaloo base, finally found what he thought was an exit through the endless forest. But he was wrong. It was an opening, a large, circular one. It was a glade. Adon remembered Vega saying that Sagat was _training in a glade around the forest._

_This must be it_, Adon thought. He looked around, and easily spotted his victim, Sagat, who was crushing a tree down.

"SAGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTT!" Adon flashed over to Sagat and shot a kick without warning. Sagat, distracted, couldn't lift his fist quickly enough to block, and was knocked back with the impact. He looked up with his one open eye, the other covered with a black patch. Adon knew at once that Sagat had been looking for more trouble after Ryu by seeing he had lost an eye. He didn't bother to ask, however. Adon even noticed a long scar on Sagat's chest.

_So that's the scar that Ryu gave to him with that uppercut…_

"You," Sagat said, breathing really fast since he was caught by surprise with Adon attacking him so suddenly.

"Yes, _me_," Adon growled. "You have spat only blood on the glorious name of Muay Thai, Sagat. You are no longer my master. You are a _loser_."

"Shut up, whining ass," Sagat said with his teeth grit, standing up as he faced Adon. "You lost to Ryu too. But mark my word, next time I meet him, I will torture him so cruelly he will kill himself instead of me doing it."

"No, Ryu would not even bother to face you again," Adon responded. "He knows you're weak. He has left the likes of you behind, moving forward to the path of a warrior."

They were both silent for a long, thought-out minute. And then, breaking the silence, Adon yelled, with his finger pointing at Sagat, "I challenge you, Emperor of Muay Thai. That name will soon belong to me."

Sagat didn't know what to do. Could he laugh at Adon for challenging _him_? Or could he be angry to be challenged by his former student, who is now against his master? He had no time to think, for he was thinking only about Ryu. He rewinded his mind back to the time. Ryu had been officially defeated in Sagat's eye. The young warrior was on the floor, no longer being able to push his body to fight anymore. His muscles were not strong enough to make him stand up anymore. But how could he suddenly not even stand, and blow an uppercut so severe?

Sagat felt pain in his ribs, and collided against the tree he had knocked down before. He shook his head and saw Adon standing above him.

"Daydreaming, Sagat?" Adon asked angrily. "Let me wake you up."

Adon grabbed Sagat by the throat, but Sagat, being too large, smacked him away. "You dare to challenge _ ME?!_" Sagat erupted. He didn't wait for an answer, and ran for Adon. They both flashed their legs at each other, making them collide as if they were bolts of lightning, together. Their powers were equal. They both jumped back, but Adon made it so that he could dash back at Sagat, again by surprise. Sagat, however, knew that was coming, and fisted in when Adon reached him. Adon easily dodged and leaped in the air.

The face of Ryu once again blinded Sagat. Sagat for a minute could have sworn, that Ryu was being controlled by evil power. Power that is evil itself. There was no other way for Ryu to have collected so much strength at the condition he was in, and hurling it at him. And then the name of Muay Thai wouldn't have been so shameful. Sagat couldn't blame Adon for being angry at him neither, when he was angry at himself as well. And Sagat for another short amount of time began to soften his opinions about Ryu, and admitted that he was blinding his eye for Ryu with anger. But he couldn't. If he didn't have anger for Ryu, he may never again glorify the name of Muay Thai.

Shaking his way out of another day dream, Sagat looked back to what was going on. He didn't have the time, however to think. He looked at Adon, who was in the air with his legs up and face down, allowing all the weight of his body to flow into his right fist, and shooting down at Sagat with speed.

_What should I do?_

Sagat choosed quickly a Tiger Uppercut, but was too late. Adon's fist dug into Sagat's body, crashing him down and planting him in the dusty ground. It was so powerful that Sagat was placed three feet below the actual ground level. The fist hit him straight in the scar in his chest. Adon kept his fist there for a long, thoughtless minute.

_I have done it, I have defeated the Emperor of Muay Thai_.

Adon walked away, but before departing the glade he spotted a man next to the tree which Sagat had crushed down. He was dead. Adon didn't care who it was, or if Sagat had killed him. He left.

"Now _I_ am the new Emperor," Adon said strongly. "Thailand shall look forward to me."


	3. Rolento's Secret Army

**[ S t r e e t F i g h t e r A l p h a (2) ( P a r t 2 ) ]**

**[Secret Military Base, USA]**

"Sir, Rolento?"

It was an enormous base, surrounded with all kinds of state-of-the-art military equipment. The walls were made of pure iron, pipes made of hard metal, cases that could hold more explosives than their volume, tunnels that were built like a maze, connecting one room to another, with always another turn to a whole new tunnel. The base, however, was made to be hidden in the underground for it was not legally made. The leader of this incredible military was a man named Rolento.

Rolento used to be part of the most powerful gang in Metro City, a few years ago, with many companions that were as powerful as him. But Rolento did remember three men that broke their gang, the Mad Gear, apart. After that, instead of being involved with the revenge being planned in Hong Kong for the three men, Rolento left the Mad Gear, and decided to make his own organization. He did indeed succeed, for now he held one of the strongest military bases designed in the world. He had connection with other secret exporters throughout the world, that provided his base with just about any weapon or explosive he desired. The price didn't matter to him. He could whip up a bank robbery plan in no time for millions. Rolento did, however, feel pity for the rest of the Mad Gear that he had betrayed. However, he had more reliability in his own core power, than being sided with other people as an upper-classed henchman.

"Sir, Rolento," a military soldier informed him. "We have been asked to travel over to Thailand to receive our five-ton order."

"Those bastards," Rolento said. "I thought I told them to export the material here?"

"No, sir," the soldier replied, "their ships were blown down from some enemies. They can't do it…we'll have to go there ourselves."

"And the extra money I added for the export?" Rolento said in a high tone.

"They said they'll exclude that, sir."

"I see," Rolento said. "Well, there's no point sending more people over there. I'll go with you this time to get that order for sure."

"Of course, sir," the soldier said.

"Get the jets ready, we'll be jetting to Thailand tomorrow morning."

"Roger."

"Wait," Rolento said. "Isn't this customer in Thailand a new one?"

"Indeed, it is, sir," the soldier said.

"Their name?" Rolento asked.

"I believe it was _Shadaloo_."

"Hmph…well as long as we get our stuff the name won't sound so corny."

**[Secret Military Port, Thailand]**

The next day, Rolento and about twenty of his soldiers flew over to Thailand to get their order of guns, and other equipment from the new connection with an organization named _ Shadaloo_. When they reached the port where the dealing would be made, Rolento was more satisfied than ever. They had exactly five tons of equipment received from Shadaloo. Their leader, Vega, had made this possible. Rolento had not had such a perfect deal before with any other organization. With this in mind, he forgot about the fact he had to move to Thailand in order to transport the equipment.

"I never had a deal with you before, yet you say you have a worldwide transportation system," Rolento said to Vega, as his men with their heavy machinery carried the equipment they were given to a ship.

"We do," Vega said. "I have at least one base in every single country. The average is two every country. I have five in US, though."

"Odd," Rolento said.

"Indeed!" Vega exclaimed. "Some countries have heavy security all around. We were once attacked by the army, but that's where you see the advantage of having five bases."

"You flew to another base?" Rolento guessed.

"Obvious," Vega said. "And yet—"

"—and yet we have never had contact before," Rolento said with a smirk.

"We do now," Vega said slowly. "The money's pretty fair."

"So's your weapons," Rolento said. "I don't always get such good deals. It is quite a shock you gave out five tons of equipment without a single crying face."

"Well," Vega said. "That explains why Shadaloo is a global pain in the ass. Our bases are to be identified always by the top army in every goddamn country. It's hard to hide from those assholes these days. But in every minute I make about a million American dollars, either through weapons, explosives, robberies, drugs, or plain money. In every base there's something going on. But then again—there's always a traitor trying to run away and live a life with what he's earned. Many have gotten away, but I don't just let them go like that just because I have more than that. But either way, we have a lot of business. In here, Thailand, we usually just deal with drugs. This is the first time I've dealt five tons of weapons in Thailand. In other countries we usually do other things."

"Like?" Rolento asked with interest.

"In China I usually make contact with other bases," Vega said, fixing his red cap, "But currently China has a smart bitch who's been trying to track down our bases in the country. She already found one and wrecked it. In Japan we usually make the military equipment, due to high technology. There also lives a man named Ryu in Japan…very powerful judging by his battling sources. In Brazil we produce incredible amount of electricity. There's some sort of beast that can produce amazing electricity for hours and not get tired. In Russia we invent transportation systems…mostly ships, jets, helicopters and shit. But there's another ass in Russia that's trying to track us down…some dude who wrestles with bears as a source of strength, as far as I know...I have no time to deal with them though. I have other things to do. As for now, I'm staying in this base for about a month. It's the safest place for now."

"Amazing," Rolento said. "Sounds like you really have major shit throughout the world. But then again, there are enemies always trying to stick up your hard work's ass."

"Many," Vega said. "I had report before that some red-clothed Bushin style fighter was waiting for me to land in my base in Italy. I was heading for my base in Italy, but I knew that he was another smartass, so I decided to head to my Thailand base instead…. You can't live in this world with justice. Such a word should be internationally banned."

They both laughed.

"We're all loaded, sir!" Rolento's soldier shouted across the port, standing next to a ship loaded with all the five tons of equipment they had bought.

"How much is it for the ship?" Rolento asked.

"Don't mind it," Vega said. "But I'll need it back in a week, all the other ships are out to the far eastern countries, and I'll be needing this one for my export with another group somewhere in South Africa."

"Gotcha."

**[Rolento's Mountain Testing Area, USA]**

"That Vega's sure a good bastard," Rolento said, smirking as he faced all the items he had received from Shadaloo. "All this for two million only. Now I see how I've been wasting my money on other cheap asses."

Rolento stared at the items and then looked over at his soldiers who began testing them outside the base in a mountainous area. First the bombs were tested, which almost erased the peak of a mountain in only two shots. Then the guns were tested. A shotgun could crack right through a fifteen-foot thick rock. Impressed, Rolento began to feel even more delighted of the deal with Shadaloo. They went through every kind of weapon they had received.

"All checked, sir," a soldier said. "They are all above their expected power. It seems that Shadaloo's not bad after all."

"Spectacular," Rolento said. "This'll add to my perfect military."

"Sir Rolento!!!"

Rolento looked around and spotted a soldier who looked as if he had been running for miles, coming at him.

"Keep it down, will you," Rolento said. "Your ass-shaped mouth is louder than all those bombs we tested, altogether."

The soldier reached him and fell on his knees, gasping for breath. Rolento, however, grabbed him by the neck tightly and picked him up.

"I don't have time for your recovery," Rolento said. "What's your problem?"

"Sir," the soldier said, hardly being able to talk, "there is some red-clothed enemy coming this way. He looks dangerous. He wiped out our first line of defense in no more than ten seconds."

"Idiots," Rolento said. "Oh well…I haven't had fun with this shit yet anyway. Let him come."

The man, however, arrived in no time after Rolento said that. He indeed was wearing red clothes. It was—

"Guy?!" Rolento's voice echoed loudly through the open area.

There was a long pause. Then Guy approached Rolento more. "Yes, me," Guy said, closing his eyes. "I was training about five miles from this blasted place and could hear rotten eggs being blown. Which did disrupt my warm-up training fight with one of your _ friends_."

"What kind of training could _you_ have?" Rolento said. "You're just some wimp who beats up without thinking. If you were a soldier like me you'd understand the art of planned-fighting. And plus, who the hell could be fighting with you in a place like this?"

Guy's mood didn't change by Rolento's words. He kept his eyes closed, and then opened them slowly. "The Bushin style has much more planned technique systems than a military-obsessed bastard who throws bombs for the hell of it."

"_Bushin style?!_" Rolento said, seeming surprised.

"Never heard of it before?" Guy said. "I guess that shows why I kicked your ass so easily before, huh? Don't you learn a lesson, Rolento? Even if you did leave the Mad Gear, you are still accompanied by soldiers. You are still fighting with a side. The Bushin Style doesn't insist of having partners to fight with. You use this style to fight for yourself."

Guy began to walk away, but Rolento, finally out of his surprised look, said, "So… you're the one Vega was talking about. The one that was searching for him in Italy…"

Rolento's words, which were said very normally and in a low tune, did catch Guy's ears. He stopped, turned back with much serious eyes. "You know Vega?!"

Rolento smirked. "Your interest?"

"Shut up," Guy said. "You do know Vega. Tell me, where Vega is."

"I don't think I'll tell you," Rolento said. "You want to fight? Fine then…"

Rolento took out his long, metal stick, and made a fighting stance that made no sense to Guy.

"And about what you were saying about 'sides', I'll take care of that," he said. He faced his soldiers. "Take off and take the weapons with you. I'll take care of this ass and meet you back in the base."

As the soldiers left, Rolento faced back to Guy. Rolento had been longing for a fight with Guy for a while, but he didn't have the time to go back to Metro City to find him…or even find out if Guy was there. But the battle the Mad Gear faced was far severe from any other battle they had. Rolento looked back to the time. They, as a gang themselves, had faced many gangs, and defeated them all. Thus the name 'mad gear' became well-known throughout Metro City, making it the leading gang. But they were easily defeated by only three people. He had known all along that these three were not normal fighters. They were very strong… and all this time he thought that Guy had no fighting style, that he just beat him with plain strength. It was now that Rolento felt better. He wasn't weak, he only faced a tough warrior.

But Guy didn't seem to be Rolento's concern. Rolento thought even deeply. Besides Guy, there were two other people. One was the mayor, Mike Haggar, whose daughter was kidnapped and thus the fighting began. Haggar was no doubt a powerful man. Rolento had seen him battle Abigail, one of the leaders of the Mad Gear. Haggar didn't seem to have the time to be hit, so he just dragged himself to Abigail and defeated him in a flinch. The third warrior happened to be a young citizen named Cody. This was the man that Rolento had been looking forward to. Although Rolento never had the chance to actually battle Cody, since Guy took him on instead, Rolento witnessed Cody's battle with Damnd, who happened to be an indirect part of the Mad Gear, and Edi, who was another leader of Mad Gear. As Rolento had observed, Cody didn't focus about the pain of the fists flying at him, no matter how many of them, but just cared about how many he knocked down. He was like an unstoppable fire running through a grassy field.

"So," Guy's voice suddenly shook Rolento out of his thought, "Don't you want to know who I was fighting back there before your stupid booms led me here?"

"Heh…," Rolento said, "Like I'd give a shit."

"Of course you would," Guy said. "It was your old Mad Gear scumbag, after all…"

"Mad Gear, huh?" Rolento thought.

"Sodom," Guy said. "I was giving him a hard time, he couldn't catch up to my speed."

"What the hell is Sodom doing here?!" Rolento shouted. "In the middle of nowhere…shouldn't he be in some prison in Metro City."

"Odd enough," Guy said, "I met him in the middle of the training. It seemed that he was looking for _you_."

_Looking for me?_, Rolento thought. He had no idea why, after all this while, Rolento would look for him. Or was it because of something he did?... was it because he left the Mad Gear?

"You still have the time to give in to where Vega is, Rolento," Guy said. "I don't want to crack someone else's bones."

"Shut the hell up……. This battle is not gonna be like before."

Rolento stood tall, gripping onto his rod. This rod was what he used always when he couldn't use his explosives. It was his sign of power. He had pulled off major tactics, and along with his amazing speed. However, he could notice that this wouldn't be an easy match.

_Damn it…_, he thought. _Could Guy have improved? Why the hell am I wasting my time…it doesn't matter to me where Vega is. …. … No……Why should I tell him…he's the man who defeated me before._

Rolento shot at Guy instantly and pulled his rod back to thrust it. His speed made it so that illusions could appear behind his actual figure. However, this trick didn't work on Guy. When the rod came, Guy instantly grabbed it by the end with one hand, and then hurling it around so that Rolento could crash away.

"I see you have improved," Guy said. "This time you actually got close to me…"

"Are you making fun of me?!" Rolento shouted angrily, getting up.

"Naaahhhh….. you're the real deal," Guy said sarcastically.

"Screw off," Rolento said.

"Is throwing insults all you can do?" Guy said disappointedly. "Already breaking sweats, are you?"

Rolento's anger got him back on his feet. _His speed is equal to mine… much faster, in fact… if I rely on just attacking him like before he'll pull off a major hit. He seems like he's playing with me…like I'm nothing at all. He doesn't even move from his spot. If he does move, maybe I can attack him…but how do I get him to move?_

Rolento charged at Guy once again. He formed the same illusions, but this time tended to circle Guy to confuse him. And so he did. He wasn't sure if the tactic actually worked or if Guy had let him do it to see what his next move would be, but he went along with it anyway. Upon reaching Guy's back, he made a quick move of hurling his rod at him, which he didn't…Guy flung his fist back but didn't hit Rolento. It was all a trick to get Guy to move. Being unable to see where he was, Guy followed where the illusions led. By the time he actually traced the real Rolento, it was almost too late.

Rolento's rod struck against Guy's head, causing him to fly off and colliding against the ground, very close to a cliff, dealing with the pain.

_Yes! Yes! I've done it…so it IS possible to hurt an experienced fighter without bombs. This is it, Rolento. This is the fight that will determine your destiny. To create the perfect military, I have to become the strongest leader known in history. Even stronger than…Vega himself._

As the clouds of dust floated away, Guy's shape reappeared. Rolento looked at the ground for hints of blood, but didn't see any. He tried to look behind Guy's head but since he was facing him, it was not acceptable. He gritted his teeth.

"Even though I was open to anything, you couldn't hurt me," Guy said. "Sadly, I didn't even bleed…and you're using that metallic rod in your hands."

It wasn't much proof needed to ensure Guy's words. Rolento could tell that Guy wasn't an easy opponent. But this was one fight he couldn't afford to lose. Even if he was a bad guy, and Guy the good guy. If he had to change the fate of a good guy defeating the bad guy, he would do it, no matter what the cost. Thinking up a good tactic, Rolento's mind went dry. His grip on the rod loosened, letting it slip down a few inches. But looking back to the fact he couldn't lose, he held it firmly once again, looking straight in Guy's eyes. …… The guy's eyes were as pure as the red colored clothes of his. _Those kind of eyes, they will not help in a battle._

Rolento quickly thought and threw his rod at Guy, letting it go from his hands. Thinking that Guy would duck, Rolento quickly slipped behind his back to catch the rod and launch a surprise attack. But he was wrong….As an experienced fighter, Guy easily catched the rod in a single hand, following by hitting it in Rolento's ribs and letting him fly off a distance.

"I…won't give up!"

The ambition once again flipped Rolento back on his feet with confidence in his fighting abilities. However, inside, he was not very confident. Hardly being able to breathe, he couldn't hold onto the rod much longer. As he observed the very loosened and energy-packed muscles of Guy, he wasn't sure if victory will actually be his. Guy seemed so confident he didn't even bother to make a fighting stance anymore. He just stood there, waiting to blow Rolento until the match was over. Out in the distance, Rolento was hardly able to see it, but could see a weird shadow-like figure coming towards their direction. It was very far away. Perhaps he was daydreaming?

Guy, getting tired of Rolento's huffing, decided to end the match quickly and flashed towards him faster than any speed Rolento had ever experienced before. In less than a second, Guy was from ten meters away from Rolento to already having him in a headlock. Unable to do anything, Rolento could just thrust his rod around here and there. His breath slowly dried out and all he could do was raise a single arm for what he thought was the last time. Like a miracle, the arm, supported by all of Rolento's strength, let him loosen slowly out of Guy's grasp. The other hand ripped through Guy's neck like a burning meteor, scratching through his neck. And then the other hand which was still holding the rod quickly sent Guy in the air by applying more impact to Guy's wound on the neck.

With all his strength packed into those sudden quick moves that even the Bushin style fighter could not defend against, Rolento collapsed to the ground, not even being able to hold his body with his hands. He let himself thud against the dust just lying there, breathing as fast as he could. He could feel his heartbeats thud so hard, the dust underneath could be seen floating out. Still looking into his dreams, Rolento heard a crash a distance away from him. Slowly lifting his head to see Guy also lying there, far away from him, Rolento didn't know yet what to feel. He himself was too exhausted to know if he had won or not.

But Guy did rise, and Rolento could finally see signs of blood under his neck, which showed him that he was not a weakling after all. Although this was a match he could never forget, Rolento knew that he had not won. He could barely lift his head to watch Guy slowly stand up. If the same attack had been formed on the back of Guy's neck, Guy's neck could have broken and he could have died. Rolento wasn't sure if he wanted to kill Guy. Guy was more like a foe you would have a fight with for a few minutes and then leave until the next match. But this match had gone too far?

Guy endured the pain in his neck in less than a minute, and walked over to Rolento. Rolento, thinking that this was the end for him, waited for Guy to finish him off. He waited there for what seemed like a minute, but Guy didn't do anything. He just stood there.

"That," as Rolento slowly began to face the other way, Guy finally spoke out, "was one experience I never had before. I guess I underestimated you…."

Rolento couldn't open his mouth to speak out, not yet. And he didn't even know what to say. It was a tense moment. Then Guy spoke out once again, and Rolento noticed that the wound in his neck was much deeper than expected. It was almost unbelievable how Guy was still conscious. But then again, he was an experienced fighter. Wounds were sources of experience rather than pain for these kind of fighters.

"I suppose this match has ended," Guy said, "We can't fight, not now."

Guy slowly began to walk away from the tired leader. Rolento looked around for signs of life. There was no one except the now walking away Guy. He couldn't reach for his pocket yet to take out his radio to contact with his soldiers. As Guy reached the cliff to jump down, Rolento quickly rose a little and yelled with all the energy he had collected during the lying time, "Thailand."

Guy turned around. "What was that?"

"Vega," Rolento spoke out once again, slowly lowering his head, "He's in his military base in Thailand."

"The base can be anywhere," Guy said. "Looks like that's all you wanna tell… We shall meet again one day to have a worthy, or perhaps friendly, fight."

As Guy leaped down the cliff and exited the scene, Rolento set his mind to the word _'friendly'_ that Guy had just said. It was a rather surprise that after such a fight, Guy decided to be friendly to an old foe who currently hurt his neck severely. Or was it because Guy just learned that underestimating can be dangerous, even against a fly? And what about the match…..who won? If Guy had wanted, he could have just finished off the battle when he was standing there next to the helpless Rolento that was lying on the ground. But he didn't.

Waiting for his energy to collect in his body so that he could reach for his pocket, Rolento didn't know what to do. At a time like this, anything could happen to him. Anyone could come and hurt him while he couldn't do anything to do about it. But there was no one in this mountainous place in which they had decided to do their bomb testing…. But then, Rolento proved himself wrong.

He was suddenly grabbed by the throat and lifted to his feet. He looked to the man holding him so firmly he once again could barely breathe. It was Sodom, his past assistant in the gang of Mad Gear. Looking just the way he used to be back then, Sodom still seemed to be a Japan-obsessed fighter he had always been. He was dressed like a football player, however.

_So, Guy was right in saying he was fighting Sodom back then…_

"Bastard," Sodom said slowly, "I despise you. First you betray the Mad Gear, and now you distract my very good battle with Guy. Next time I will cut through him like paper, but as for now I can just beat you up. You even lost to Guy, how pathetic! Look how weak you look… I could just smack you around all night."

Rolento was too tired to speak back, and tolerated as Sodom did as he willed, smacking and kicking him around. They were pretty short and weak smacks compared to Guy's, however, and Rolento couldn't think of anything but take them as a healing treatment. In the end, Sodom drew one of his strange-looking weapons, looking like a double-bladed object in the shape of a fork, but not including the third stem. He placed the object around Rolento's neck so that he could be trapped in between the two stems.

"I'll go easy on you if you just tell me where Guy went," Sodom said, smirking.

Not being able to oppose Sodom's demands, Rolento slowly said, "…Thailand."

"…Thailand," Sodom repeated. "And where in?"

"Dunno…"

Sodom withdrew the weapon from Rolento's neck and stabbed it in Rolento's arm hard enough for him to scream. "Since you're not going to speak out anymore, this is the price you'll have to pay at least. I'll kill you later, because right now I got to find a more important ass."

Sodom disappeared from the scene. Rolento once again just stayed in the position, but Sodom's 'treatment' had seemed to awaken his body back into function. He could now move, although still weakly. He slowly reached for his pocket and drew a radio and turned it on. He tried to reach for the button that would connect him with his army, but his thumb couldn't stretch there, and his fingers were too numb to move. After what seemed like an hour of struggling with the radio, Rolento grew frustrated.

"…Ah what the hell," Rolento whined as he threw the radio as far as he could, making it break, "Life's an ass."

Now he had nothing to do but wait for his loyal army to come back for him… but how long could that take?


	4. Deathmatch: The Deul

**[ S t r e e t F i g h t e r A l p h a (2) ( P a r t 2 ) ]**

**[Fighting Stadium, Thailand]**

"Adon, your match is cancelled."

It was another Street Fighting stadium in Thailand, and as the new Emperor of Muay Thai, Adon had to accept every challenger, whether weak or strong. This was his first match as the Emperor, so he had to really impress the crowd, for they hardly believed that such a man was able to defeat Sagat. Adon himself didn't know if he had actually defeated Sagat. Sagat seemed too lost in his daydreaming to focus in his fight with Adon… but it didn't matter to Adon. He had won, and that's all there is to it.

"What the hell do you mean, cancelled?!" Adon shouted at the man who was running the stadium.

"Well, it's quite odd..," the man said. "Since your challenger was from Japan, he was on the way to Thailand but got killed before he even reached the airport."

"Killed?" Adon said angrily, "what a goddamn weakling….and by who was he killed? Don't tell me Ryu is a killer."

"No," the man said. "The defeater of the last Emperor has no killing records."

"You never know," Adon said. The man nodded ignorantly.

"The killer tends to be a very powerful man named _Gouki_," the man said. "They have had previous records of him throughout Japan."

"Gouki, huh," Adon memorized the word, "Why'd he kill me challenger?"

"I had word with a governor and he says they've had several murder cases in Tokyo, Kyoto, and many in Yokohama," the man said. "Every other Street Fighter being killed. But the odd thing is that only the _fighters_ are being killed. It seems that this man seems to be looking for a challenge rather than going around being a killing machine which he seems to be."

"Hmm…," Adon thought. "Well, now that my match is cancelled and the crowd is disappointed, I might as well let out my anger on this Gouki fag. Next flight, Japan."

"Whatever you think is best for you," the man said. "I'd be careful if I were you. That man—he's known to kill with the power of Immortality, Sky, and Heaven all at once…"

"Too bad I can't make sense out of that," Adon said, "Looks like I'll have to go see him to find out."

Adon stuck his long tongue out at the man and dashed off suddenly.

**[Shadaloo Sub-Base, China]**

"Hyyyyyaahh!!"

Wham!

Chunli kicked the thug straight in the face. And then swung around and performed another kick. The thug went flying off to a distance as a pair of three more thugs jumped Chunli. She leaped back to dodge a fist and formed energy between her hands, releasing it and hitting them all in a single shot. She looked around, and saw another thug who was barely even visible, standing far in a distance on a platform that was so high it supported a ladder to climb up on. He was aiming a long gun at her. Knowing that he had been spotted, the man pulled the trigger to see Chunli easily move away, expecting that to happen. The man then launched a couple of bullets but Chunli dodged them all.

Suddenly, another thug caught her from behind and pulled her towards the gun, while the other thug once again perfected his aim upon her. In that while, Chunli had already managed to escape the grasp of the thug and leaped behind him as the other thug fired a bullet straight into his assistant. Missing closely, Chunli ran towards the thug with the gun quickly and before he knew it, she had already fixed his foot up his chin, causing him to fly up head-first and crashing into his secret hideout, also head-first. Chunli knew what to expect, and quickly jumped off the platform, escaping a devastating explosion.

"Phew," she said. "That was…close!"

But Chunli soon realized it wasn't over. She heard a gunshot behind her and turned around to see rather than thinking fast and moving away in case a bullet was flying towards her. But to her relief, she noticed there was no bullet coming at her. Instead there was yet another thug who had just fired in the air, for his aim was misplaced by another man. This man, as Chunli observed him, looked quite old, late in the ninety's. He had a very white beard, and was wearing blue clothes. She analyzed the man's hand, who he was forming in two front fingers open and the rest closed like a fist. If he could move a heavy gun with only two fingers, he must be strong!

"What the—HELL!?" the thug holding the gun shouted. "I was opposed by this old coot? You …!"

The thug, underestimating the old man, tried to punch him but missed before he even tried. He then aimed his gun at him and shot bullets. Chunli noticed that this was a machine gun—a very fast one, too. But it meant no harm to the old man, who dodged each bullet before they even came six inches close to him. He was _this_ fast. Chunli did find this old man familiar, as she thought back to her memory. She couldn't remember, though.

As she looked again, the old man, finally trying something new instead of dodging the bullets, rolled on the ground. Before the thug could shoot down at the ground, the old man already rolled next to him and shot (with once again only _two_ fingers) his hand at his gun, making it fly off. He then slapped the thug around with a single hand, not making any serious hit judging by the thug's stamina of falling in only five hits.

_Impressive_, Chunli thought.

The old man looked at her, and also seemed to be trying to remember her. It seemed like they both found each other familiar, yet didn't know for sure. Chunli finally walked over to him after a long minute's waiting.

"Excuse me, sir," she said, trying to be polite, "but what is a man like you doing here?"

The old man closed his eyes, and responded, "If I may ask, what is a woman like you doing here?"

Chunli smiled. "I work for I.C.P.O., and this is supposed to be one of Shadaloo's hideouts that I was supposed to look out for."

"I see, so you're Chunli," the man said slowly, after studying her face.

"Huh?" Chunli said. "So you _do_ know me…who are you?"

"I….am Gen," he said.

Chunli thought back. An old man named Gen. And then she finally figured it out; this was Gen, one of her father's friends! She remembered him very well now. He looked a lot older than he used to be. She remembered the younger Gen, who used to play with her, and even take her out to the market and buying her almost anything she wanted without the concern for money. But she did know that Gen back then was suffering from an unknown disease. Her father usually kept him sleeping whenever he came to the house, because he was so wickedly yellow. But even back in those days, Gen used to smile a lot, especially with Chunli. Now, as she looked at the present Gen, it seemed that the kindest smile she had ever seen had been erased from his face. Did he still have the disease? Back then Chunli didn't know what the disease was, and didn't care since she was only a child. But now it seemed that the disease had just wrecked up this once very nice man's face.

"Gen?!" Chunli said, surprised. "Gen!! Oh my god…where were you all these years! I…I have so many things to talk to you about!"

"Let's talk back in my cabin," Gen said slowly, breaking into sudden coughs. The poor man seemed hardly alive. "It's really close to here."

"Oh, all right," Chunli said quickly, "So that's why you were here. Come on, I'll take you there."

**[Gen's Domain, China]**

"You still have it, don't you?" Chunli asked about the disease. She waited for Gen to take his time to reply. It seemed that his throat was completely dry.

"Leukemia, yeah..," he said slowly. "When I fight, it worsens."

"Then you shouldn't fight," Chunli advised. "Remember what father told you?"

"Yeah," he said. "I heard he died."

"How did you know..?"

"Newspaper."

"Oh," she said. "..do you know who killed him?"

"If the newspaper and daughter of the man can't tell, how can I?"

"I thought that by joining the I.C.P.O., I might find out someday who killed my father," Chunli said. "So I joined it just to see if I can one day meet that man who did. When the time comes, I'll be ready for it."

"Heh, still strong-spirited, you are," Gen said. "Just like you'd always been."

"It was you who grew me up to be like that," she laughed.

"Well if I didn't teach you to be hyper and grow up to be a fighter, you would have been a completely new person, not have even joined the I.C.P.O."

"Yeah… so now I'm assigned to Shadaloo, a very dangerous threat to many countries, including China."

They didn't talk for a moment, while they both looked back to the past things they had done. It was quite odd, though. At that time Gen was still as spirited. He was old back then, but looked as young as ever. Since his disease was young, he didn't have much change in his shape. But now that the disease was taking over his body and Gen refused to give up fighting, it seemed that Gen had finally reached his age look. But as Chunli thought back to the past battle about the thug, she noticed he was still as much strong, still as fast, still as experienced as ever. He had always been loyal to her father, always preventing him from thuggish neighbors that came to bother him and sometimes even Chunli. At that time Chunli had gotten tired of it and Gen, with the permission from her dad, began teaching her some of his moves. It was quite strange though, how such an unstoppable fighter would give out even a prickle of his fighting style. But Chunli merely learned the techniques, not how to fight with the soul.

"_Gen Dan Satsushu_," Gen spoke out after a while. "Remember that?"

Chunli quickly read the words. _Gen Dan Satsushu_…. _Gen's legendary Murder Kick._ This was the attack that Chunli prized most out of everything Gen had taught her during her childhood. However, due to not being strong and well-balanced enough at that time, Chunli had never completely mastered the move. After she had been convinced that her father had died, she began training by herself, since she had to live by herself as well. She had tried to perform this technique many times… flipping herself upside-down and spinning in a round-house kick. But she kept failing so much that she eventually gave up, and forgot how to do the move. She still knew how the move was done, but didn't remember how to start it out in the steps that Gen had advised her to.

"Gen," Chunli said, "why didn't you teach me the complete style you use? You only showed me a couple of tips and moves at a time or another…"

"Good question," Gen said, looking out the door of his cabin. He thought for a while, and then answered, "the style that I use, it is invincible in a way. So powerful, many people abuse their powers with it. And look at me now… I live to fight. I don't want any one else to suffer such a life, especially in today's modern era."

"I see…," Chunli didn't need to argue. She knew what Gen meant. She had seen Gen fight back in the days, although he was going easy on all the people he fought. He was a man who could never be described. Such intense experience running through his every fingertip, it was unbelievable how one could surpass mankind.

"What plans do you have next? Is there an enemy after you?" Chunli said, currently setting her mind on the words, _I live to fight_.

"Plans…," Gen wondered. "I wish I had time for those. But I don't want to die by this damage inside my body. I want to die…_in a true deathmatch_. A match that would end in my own death."

"Don't say that…," Chunli said.

"It's the only formal way of describing it, lass," Gen replied slowly. "I have many enemies, but what I look forward to is not my enemies. I look forward to my rival, who awaits me in Japan. I expect my own rival to defeat me, and I would rest in peace by only the feeling of his fists crashing my body, erasing all my pains. But I will not go easy on my rival, although I have high expectations… this is the only easy way to define a deathmatch. One would describe death in a deathmatch a victory instead of a loss."

Chunli rewinded back to Gen's words. She wondered about it…a fighter's life is never-ending. And every fighter seems to have a story behind. The philosophy of a fighter could be deeper than any other philosophy on earth…couldn't it? Why did a true fighter such as Gen sweat for years to build strength, just to have a worthy battle in which the result would be their own death? Why did fighters choose this path?....But then again, there his a story behind every fighter…

"My life grows weaker," Gen said. "I must go to Japan by tomorrow. Come, Chunli, we shall learn the technique outside."

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

"You should not care," Gen replied, getting up and walking over to the door.

Chunli took that as a yes, and followed him out of the cabin and to a nice sandy opening. The sun was setting. It was very beautiful how the sea was always silent when the sun sank to the other side. Very quiet, and a perfect time to set your mind to yourself, the point of believing in yourself. And that was when your fighting spirit also rose. This was the perfect time, to actually have a full-force fight.

Gen raised one hand and pointed the fingers toward his direction, signaling Chunli to come give her shot. And so she did, dashing at him and kicking off the sand from the ground as hard as she could, resulting in a high leap. When she stretched her leg outwards in the leap, Gen quickly jumped up and grabbed her, struck her down on the sand and leaped off. She quickly noted this move as one of Gen's most prized sources of beyond humanity. She had seen Gen perform it many times.

"When you fight, you don't just focus on your attack," Gen advised, "the opponent can always have a counter to it. That is why putting all you possess in a single move can be dangerous, because you cannot stop yourself when the counter is exposed."

Chunli stood up and wiped the dust off herself. Although Gen looked quite different from before, his fighting potential had increased by a huge amount. He nodded at her, as if reading her mind.

"The _Gen dan satsushu_ is performed by first placing both hands on the ground, and raising your feet in the air from the back at the same time," he continued. "Your balance has to be at the point of excellence in this moment. Then you must use both the power of your two hands pulling away from the ground and the active wind around your feet, to be able to throw yourself upwards, defeating the gravity. The winds around your legs must revolve in a circle, which is the only reason why you are able to stay in the air for a while. To make the wind revolve, your legs have to revolve as well. The motion of your revolving has to stay fast, and at the same speed as well, no more and no less. It has to be balanced. This is the _Gen Dan Satsushu_."

"So, you mean that the revolving of my legs is equal to the revolving of a helicopter's wings, which make it fly?" Chunli wondered.

Gen nodded. Then he gave her the signal of trying out the technique. Chunli dived, and performed exactly what Gen told her to. She switched her balance on the ground from feet two hands by flipping upside down, and moved her legs in a circle fast enough, and, with the support of the wind flowing around her, pushed herself off the ground and rapidly flew upside-down across the sand. However, she only was able to keep herself up for three seconds, and fell head-first on the sand. Coughing loudly, she was unable to escape from the floating sand until Gen slashed it away.

"That was good," Gen said, and broke into some words that really had an impact on Chunli's mind, "_Some day, Chunli…the Gen Dan Satsushu will kill your deepest enemy…It will... almost summon a power that is indestructible… _Now, try again! One, two, three!"

**_One day later…_**

**[Sea Shore, Japan]**

Following the evil chi of Gouki throughout the country, it seemed that Ryu was stuck. He gazed upon the island a long way across the sea. It was so far away, Ryu could only notice it by its reddish, flamey color. He was positive that the chi was coming from there. But what could be there? Gouki? Why did Gouki decide to rest in an island? Ryu didn't care, he wanted to get there and avenge his master's death in his madness. However, he needed something to get there. He looked around and spotted boats, and two men standing beside them. Ryu walked down and looked at the two men, and they looked back. One of them was hardly clothed—and Ryu recognized him as….Adon!

"Ryu?" Adon said, amazed.

"What are you doing _here_?" Ryu asked. Did Adon want revenge for being defeated back in the Street Fighter 1 tournament?

"I am going to that island over there," Adon said, pointing at the same island that Ryu was planning to go to. "Its name is _Gokuento_…"

"That island?" Ryu asked, "But what do you want to go there for?"

"Well, aren't _you_ interested?" Adon said teasingly. "You want to go there as well, huh…"

"Do you know Gouki?" Ryu asked.

"Gouki," Adon nodded, and faced the island. Then he pointed out, "The chi's strong…huh…"

"Almost evil," Ryu said slowly. "How do you feel it?"

"Every warrior can feel chi," Adon said. "They don't know it, but they can… but this one is an odd one. Makes you wonder."

"Sure does," Ryu agreed. "What do you want to do with Gouki?"

"I want to see just how powerful he is," Adon said. "Perhaps, after I defeat him, my name of Emperor will rise even more."

Ryu blinked. "Emperor of Muay Thai?"

Adon nodded. "You didn't know, right. Sagat was too weak to hold the title any longer. Now I will make our country fill with pride."

They stood there, staring at the red island of Gokuento. Ryu thought, was Adon strong enough to defeat Gouki? Was _he_ himself strong enough to defeat Gouki?

"What about you?" Adon asked.

"Huh?"

"Why do you want to go there?"

"Oh," Ryu said. "…he killed my master. I want revenge."

Adon thought about what Ryu said. "Tough luck… he seems strong. An apprentice whose master was killed, seeking for revenge. Are you confident that you will be smarter than your master and find a way to defeat the bastard?"

"I might not make it out alive," Ryu said calmly, "but as an apprentice, I must do this. I might not make it out alive, but this is my job."

"It's gonna be a long night of battling," Adon said. "If you can't beat Gouki, I'll back ya up, k?'

"No," Ryu said. "This is my own fight. I must fight by myself. If, however, I die, then you can declare your own battle with him."

"Hmph," Adon said, "And I thought I was being friendly after how you beat the crap out of me back in the Street Fighter tournament."

"I didn't really," Ryu said, "It was a friendly battle of two competitors. Every battle involves pain, of course."

Adon nodded, and then asked him, "You got some money? The boat's price is too much and this bastard isn't lowering the price."

Ryu smiled. "Sure thing."

After paying the price, they both hopped on the boat and jetted off to Gokuento. Ryu thought, like Adon had said…_it's gonna be a long night._

**[Gokuento (Gouki's Island), Japan]**

_"The victory of being defeated…."_

_"When will that day come?"_

The illuminated island was a very eerie one. Gouki was standing on top of a tall rock-pillar. On the island's ceiling was a large, almost round hole that it seemed Gouki had created during firm training. Gouki, standing on the pillar, stared out of the hole, and rested his eyes on the shining, blue moon. Besides being shiny, the moon always looked rather empty. Gouki connected the moon to himself. He tried to illustrate the face of a man that is strong enough to defeat him, someday… but the moon always looked empty. Who could the man be?

"It will be you, _master_," Gouki said to himself. But suddenly, the mark on his back lighted up. The mark…天…. It glowed so unstoppably that Gouki knew someone other than himself was present in Gokuento.

"It's about time," Gouki said, not caring to look back and see who.

About a distance away from Gouki, on the ground, stood a very old man. It was _Gen_! Looking back at him, Gouki took notice that Gen looked older and weaker than ever. Or _did_ he look weak? Right now, Gen's spirit seemed nearly invincible.

_THIS…is my quest,_ Gouki thought. _You are the one, Gen. You are it._

"Indeed, I am," Gen said, as if reading Gouki's mind. "It is time, Gouki. I set you to rest."

Gouki didn't show any change in emotion, but paused for a while, and leaped off the pillar he was standing on, landing on the rocky ground, crushing his feet nearly a foot within the hard earth. He was _that_ strong.

"We shall see about that," Gouki responded.

"No doubt," Gen declared, "The pain within your heart is more pain to others. The mark on your back, _ Ten_, it may suck you up as well, Gouki. Are you so sure that the Raging Demon will not backfire?"

"The mastery of a fist is what it takes to control such an attack," Gouki said. "That is why it only takes _evil_ to control _evil_."

Gen paused. Then shouted, "You're wrong!"

"That is your weakness,_ master_," Gouki said, "Your declining to someone's belief. You might not even defeat me."

"You are weak, Gouki!" Gen shouted back. "What you say…that you are _evil_…I know you're not. You are a lone warrior seeking a death match.."

"Believe as you may," Gouki said, "But it's time that we settle a battle."

Gen paused again. After thinking for a while, he decided not to respond. It _was_ time….to battle. As he fixed up a stance of Sou-ryuu, standing on both feet, he thought if Gouki was evil. Was he? Gouki killed his master, Goutetsu. He killed his brother, Gouken. What would a killer of his own loved ones be called besides evil? Gouki is an overpowered warrior with the thirst of the fifteen demons…or the Raging Demon. This own attack, someday, might kill Gouki himself. It was the only possible end to Gouki. His defeat by a warrior, or his defeat by himself.

_Shun Goku Satsu… Pure power… end in my own defeat…heh… I'd like to see the day._

Suddenly, Gouki's body began to shake rapidly, and he suddenly flashed over to Gen quickly. He was so fast, his body traced his illusions wherever he went with the quick-moving skill. He then thrust a vigorous fist at Gen, whom grabbed it in his hand, and casted Gouki into a solid wall, causing it to break down into rocks. Gouki used his chi to mentally blow the rocks away from his body, and flashed a distance from Gen.

_Better boost up that power… old man…_

Gouki blasted in the air like a rocket, high above, and turned over with his head facing the ground as he rocketed back down, right above Gen. Understanding Gouki's attempt, Gen formed a different stance than before. This time, he was standing on one foot, and his hands were in different level ordering.

_Ki-Ryuu…his second fighting style…_

As Gouki approximated Gen, driving through the air with his fist ready to cause a devastating explosion, Gen kicked off the ground and connected with Gouki… It was a very terrible scene. Gouki flung his fist; Gen attempted to grab Gouki, and he did so. Although Gouki's fist missed Gen, its force struck the ground and caused breaking rocks to fly up. One of the large rocks hit Gen, but Gen avoided to focus the pain while he struck Gouki down on the ground once… twice… and three times!

_That technique… Jyakouha…_

Leaping off a distance, Gen rested while Gouki had the time to recover. The rock had hit him hard on the shoulder. But Gouki stood up in no less than five seconds. Due to the instense power In Gen's triple-strike on Gouki, the island seemed a wreck. Many of the rocks had been destroyed. Their powers were _beyond human_.

Gen crouched low, and formed into a ball, and rolled across the ground. Upon reaching three meters away from Gouki, he flung off into the air and un-rolled himself, his hand reaching out to strike Gouki. Gouki, however, took note of the move, and traced it in his mind as Gen did exactly what he thought.

_Jyasen…The user rolls on the ground like a wheel, unrolls during approach of enemy, with an instant-attacking form during the transformation..._

_You will have…_

_…two fingers open for attack, in order to avoid full impact…the attack, instead of going horizontally or vertically…goes straight in. Yes, this is your move…this is Jyasen._

Knowing what will happen, Gouki blocked Gen's two fingers with a defensive arm, and used the other hand to strike in the attacking core. BANG.

The blow was dynamic. Since the attacking core between the two fighters was being really packed with energy, it caused a whirlwind between Gouki and Gen, which mainly grabbed Gen and pitched him in the air. About to hit the ceiling violently, Gen quickly kicked it and rolled onto the ground safely, away from Gouki.

_That power…_, Gen thought. _…Gouki knows what he is doing…. Jyasen… the rapid wind that is being formed because of the rolling, when the user rolls into the air and unrolls, the wind behind him strikes the opponent, causing him to hold back. The user then aids the wind with a two-finger strike…but even knowing how the technique is done, the opponent cannot defend or counter the move. How did Gouki do it?_

But Gen didn't have much time to think through. Now it was Gouki attacking him. Gen switched his stance once again, back to the normal two-feet standing. Noting this fact, Gouki continued with his move anyway. He formed a red fireball between his hands, charged it, and released it towards Gen. The fireball ripped through the air so forcefully that the ground exploded with rocks, firing them on either side. Gen slashed his hand in the air, causing the fireball to change course because of the impact. But the fireball didn't seem to be Gouki's main attack. Gen looked around for Gouki and sensed chi above him. Looking up, he noticed Gen was firing a kick at him. It was a very quick kick, because it cut through the air like paper, like a blade, and it went almost straight downwards. Gen quickly thought and leap-kicked in the air. Their kicks collided, and cancelled each other out. Gen, however, had more to his kick. He continued kicking up, rising more and more. Gouki had to endure about three of these before finally controlling the power, grabbing Gen's leg, and throwing him across the chamber.

Gen, however, began to feel a sickening feeling. He couldn't recover in the air like he normally could, and crashed into a wall badly. He got back up and suddenly realized he couldn't stand. Gouki landed and looked over to the old man.

But Gen didn't want Gouki to realize he was feeling weak, and forced himself to stand. He once again made a correct stance and faced Gouki. Gouki acted like he didn't realize it, and chose the option of ending the match quickly: the old man will have to rest in peace.

_It is time…_

Gen felt the chi inside Gouki rising. It _was_ time. Realizing that match had gotten serious, Gen decided to fight seriously. Slowly, smoke began to rise from Gouki's body. It seemed that Gouki was steaming. Gen could also feel a tremendous amount of chi from Gouki's back…but what was there in the middle? The mark…

The smoke then changed to a reddish smoke, and Gouki's body was bordered by heavy flames which he didn't seem to be hurt by. Gen knew what was coming. _It is your attack… The Raging Demon. This is it. The decision of death, either mine or yours._

_Decision is up to Ten…old man._

Gouki's illusions once again began to form, as he quickly began to flash over to Gen and try to grab him. Gen had been training for this. Could he survive? He could see what was coming. The fifteen demons floating out of Gouki's body, Gen's vision turning almost blank white…but Gen concentrated. He let all the emotion inside of him float out of his fingertips. He let his mind blank…with no other thought. It seemed that his soul had come out of his own body… he could feel Gouki's fifteen demons coming at him, and so they did, as Gouki finally grabbed on to Gen's body. The demons wrapped his body and began to suck his soul out, but Gen continued to concentrate.

And anyway…_how could a demon suck your soul out, when your body doesn't have one?_

In what seemed like forever, the demons loosened from Gen and floated back inside Gouki, who let go of him. The mark behind Gouki was steaming hot. Gen then began to recollect his soul and spirit, and emotions back inside his body. He opened his eyes. His vision was blurry. Is this the end?

_You survive…old man…_

_Looks like the decision is up to Zan'Ei, Gouki…_

Gen stood on one foot, charged his hand back, and shot at the Gouki in front of him. He slashed his way through Gouki's body with his hand. The impact of the attack hit all of Gouki's bones that were lined up on the spot. But Gouki didn't fall for the move. Zan'Ei was only powerful if it hit at a certain spot. Gouki had suddenly misplaced the spot when Gen had made the decision of where the attack should be performed.

But this didn't seem to worry Gen at the moment. Gen helplessly fell on the floor. He couldn't get up anymore. He had used up almost all of his energy. Taking deep breaths, he tried to get back up in case Gouki attacks him, but in vain. A single hit, and he'll be dead. Gouki looked back and took note of this. Gen was in his ninety's, anyway. After a long minute's waiting, Gouki walked away from Gen, but stopped near the exit from the chamber for a while.

_It would seem like a duel…_

_To you, it may…but to me, you have won…_

…

_hmph…until next time, old man…The next, you die…_

Gen stood up and slowly walked away. Gouki, too, left the wrecked area. It seemed that almost all of the chamber had been destroyed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: Ten is the kanji on Gouki's back, 天

And thanks CMK TacTican for correcting my mistake of using Shitenshuu instead of Zan'Ei ;) Also, the Shun Goku Satsu _does_ take the victim to hell, but ever wondered what that 15 hit combo is for? Those are the 15 demons actually attacking the victim, taking him/her to hell (I'm not sure about the sucking out the soul part, just made that up). ^_^

Next Chapter: The Game of Death


	5. The Game of Death

**[ S t r e e t F i g h t e r A l p h a (2) ( P a r t 2 ) ]**

**[???]**

"W-…Where am I?"

It was a very little boy who found himself in the middle of nowhere. He looked around and saw walls made of hot red rocks. The ground was very crooked, its levels rising and falling in certain places. The ceiling had a number of stalactites, some even reaching down two feet from the ground. The boy surfed around the area he was in. Was he in the wrong place?

The boy walked until he found a rising set of platform of solid-rectangular rocks. Having nowhere else to go, he began to climb these rocks, one by one, until he reached the top-most rock. Before climbing up the rock, he hanged onto it to see ahead. To his amazement, he saw an enormous, open area. But there was no ground in front of the boy. The ground must be a bit lower than where his level is. He tried to now climb up the rock he was hanging on, but realized his foot was stuck behind. 

Struggling to get the foot free, he pulled so hard that the foot did come out of grasp, but the force led the boy to fall off the cliff. He quickly grabbed on to a rock, hanging there, and looked below. It was a long way down… about a mile. The boy let out a piercing scream, asking for help.

And suddenly, he felt something above him. He looked up, and to his surprise saw someone standing there. It was a huge man, with blazing red hair and a body that seemed burnt out. The man looked down at him. He looked so frightening that the boy didn't know if he should ask for help or not. But the help came to him itself. The man reached out his enormous hand to him.

Not knowing what to do, the boy took the hand anyway. The man wrapped his hand with a firm grasp, and pulled him up easily, setting him back on top of the cliff. The boy stared up at the tremendous man. He was so tall and massive, double of a normal, strong man. What would such a man be doing in this place?

"Where'd you come from, kid?" the man asked.

"Uh…," the boy thought. "I—I built a raft and decided to come here…"

"Built a raft," the man repeated, "such a kid would be able to do such a thing? Why this island?"

"I don't know..," the boy answered, lowering his head. "The boys at school were picking on me. I wanted to be somewhere alone for a while, and I thought this island would be better. But this is a dungeon…"

"Hmm…," the man thought. "You're weak for running from your fears."

"Huh?"

"That's right…..you must perfect your fighting strength, and finish them off."

"Finish them off?!" the boy said loudly. "I..can't do that!"

"That's what makes you weak," the man declared. "Those boys will pick on you all your life. You can't take that from them. Will you ruin your life by letting them?"

"No…," the boy whispered.

"You made a right choice of coming to a place where no one will care to look for you," the man spoke on. "But what will be your next step? Will you sit here and cry, then go back to your life? Or will you perhaps… create a killing power…"

"Killing power?" The boy blinked.

"Yes, perfect your strength…your speed…energy….stamina…..all those tools for murder."

The boy thought for a minute. This strange man who lives inside a deserted island is suggesting him to become a murderer. Is he crazy? Or a psycho? Should he listen to him?

"I…need time to think…"

"It's for you to decide, I can only encourage you," the man said in a low tune. "Whatever fate has planned for you, is what you will do…"

The boy blinked, and came up with a weird question.

"Do warriors believe in fate?"

"…"

"That question….," the man said, thinking it out in his head very strongly. "…I can't answer it. I don't want you to go the wrong path. It's really your own decision to believe in fate or not. But when the time comes, perhaps we will meet again, and I might be able to answer that question of yours."

The boy nodded, and dropped the subject. They both were quite for a moment, still thinking about the same question. But neither of them wanted to talk. But why would warriors fight if fate has decided their loss? … Or is it because they don't know what fate has decided for them…? Is it fate doing every other good and bad thing? Is it fate that makes a man turn good, or another man turn evil… a man poor, and another man rich?

"You're an interesting kid," the man finally broke the silence. "What's your name?"

"My name…," the boy said. "My name is Mu."

The man's faced turned bright red. He was caught by surprise.

"_Mu_?" the man said. His eyes opened wide. His fist clenched so hard that noises of cracking could be heard.

"A-are you okay?" Mu asked, frightened. The man loosened his hand, and lowered his head, hiding his face with his hair.

"That name reminds me of someone," he said.

"Who?"

"Someone close to me, that's all you need to know," the man said firmly.

Mu moved his eyes to the man's back. "_Ten?_"

"…."

"Why do you have that mark on your back?" Mu asked.

"…that's nothing for your concern."

Mu lowered his face, then looked up and smiled. "By the way, what's your name?"

"My name?" the man said. "It's been a while since someone asked for my name…"

"So you're not going to tell?" the boy asked.

"…Gouki….."

_Gouki… Gouki…… Gouki……_

_Gouki… Gouki…_

_Gouki… Gouki—Gouki—Gouki—Gouki—Gouki…_

_Gouki...._

_Blank… Sky… why do those two words match together?_

_Gouki…Gouki… Gouki…!!_

_…?_

_GOUKI!!!!!!!_

**[Gokuento, Japan]**

Gouki shook his head, and looked around. Relieved, he realized he was in his island. He was sitting down against a down, dreaming of… a boy who's life he had saved a long time ago, by giving him a hand while he was hanging from a cliff. His memory remained blank about the boy. They only had a few minutes of talk… but the talk that they had…Gouki would not forget. The meaning of every second was so powerful… But what woke him up from the dream?

"Gouki!! Gouki!!"

_My name is being called… someone else is on the island…_

"Where are you, Gouki! Stop hiding!"

Before getting up to find this person who was calling him, Gouki wondered about one more thing..

_Pathetic father… tried to make us feel proud of being poor._

Those two words, Blank and Sky… they were the title of a poem that their father used to describe them both. Although Gouki was the loner, his father had given him the title of Sky… and his brother, Gouken, the title of Blank. Why he did that, they both had no idea.

Gouki stood up, but he didn't need to go find the person anymore. It seemed they had already found him. Observing more closely, Gouki recognized them as Ryu, but didn't need to care any longer to observe Adon. He knew that this Ryu was the one looking for him.

"There you are, Gouki!" Ryu shouted. "I am here, now…"

"Yes, indeed you are," Gouki responded, observing Ryu even more. "You are Gouken's apprentice, am I right?"

"Halfway," Adon replied unwontedly, "but you forgot the other half. He's also the one that's going to kick your ass."

Gouki ignored Adon, and kept his eyes on Ryu. _The boy looks rather weak… he must be, the same as that red-clothed fire-fist I met earlier. _He was only wearing regular karate clothes, mostly ripped, and smudgy. He was wearing a white bandana, tied around his head. He was wearing red gloves that covered most of his wrists, so that his fists can be controlled easier.

"Go on, Ryu," Adon whispered to him, "go get him."

"Ryu, eh?" Gouki repeated. "So that's your name. Who's your partner with those red clothes?"

"Ken?" Ryu said shockingly, "You met Ken?!"

"Ken…," Gouki repeated once again. "…interesting man. Perhaps even more interesting than you. He has a gift in fighting."

"Gift or not, I will defeat you here," Ryu declared, tightening his bandana, and fixing his gloves, "Prepare, Gouki."

Ryu performed a stance, keeping his left arm out for defense, right arm behind it for attack. Gouki nodded, and didn't care to make one of his own.

"Is that what you call fighting skill?" Gouki said. "Such a predictable stance."

"Don't talk," Ryu said calmly. "Fight."

"That spirit," Gouki said. "So much like your partner. Are you two brothers? His anger was too direct. Anger can rip through emotions, but it can't jump you up to a higher fighting skill."

Gouki waited, but didn't get a response from Ryu, who was completely focused on his stance, waiting for Gouki to attack. Shrugging slightly, Gouki stepped forward.

"We shall have it your way, then," he said. "Let us fight."

Adon stepped back, and jumped on top of a rock to watch out for the battle. He was going to observe the battle between Ryu and Gouki, to see how powerful Gouki really is. His size was nearly double the size of Ryu.

"_Hadouken!_" Ryu fired an energy ball at Gouki, whom easily captured the energy in his hand, and backfired. Ryu quickly vaulted in the air to dodge the energy wiping through the ground below him. As the energy cleared, Ryu landed back on his feet.

"This grows boring too soon," Gouki sighed. "Perhaps I should warm you up."

Gouki slid over to Ryu, making a rather slow punch. Ryu evaded the fist in a more quick-reacting manner. By this, Gouki noticed, that Ryu was much weaker than he had suspected. He was holding back his power, and yet Ryu was still meeting a challenge.

Gouki jabbed in more held-back fists, and Ryu, being too busy dodging, ducking, sliding, and evading, couldn't counter. Finally, Ryu flipped out of the spot. He collected, once again, another ball of energy between his hands. He sprinted past Gouki, swung around, and shot the fireball at Gouki. But Gouki was too agile to fall for it, and easily side-stepped to see the fireball crash in a distant wall.

"More warming up, perhaps?" Gouki demanded.

Gouki formed his own fireball stance, and collected what seemed like a tremendous amount of energy in his palms. He leaped high in the air, and thrust the energy towards the surface.

Knowing that it will be an enormous blast, Ryu vaulted and grabbed onto a rock-pillar, climbing on top of it. Adon found himself a nature-made cliff and sat on top of it. The fireball vividly collided into the ground, and Gouki found himself a pillar to save himself as well. Ryu observed the horrible scene: the fierce energy cracked all of the surface. Lava floated out of the cracks, covering all of the now red surface. Ryu looked around. The only safe places left were the pillars that were above the ground. If someone fell down there, they would melt to death.

There were several pillars around the area. Noting this, Ryu figured out what Gouki was trying to do. They were going to fight until someone fell down there… in the scorching flood of lava.

"Seem hard enough?" Gouki shouted to Ryu from a distant pillar.

Along with this hard task of staying on the pillars, there was that shaking. It seemed that the whole island was trembling from the energy that Gouki fired to cause lava to emerge.

"You are simple-minded, Gouki," Ryu declared. "This makes your chances of living smaller as well."

"Fool," Gouki said, "My chances are much higher than yours!"

"You can't bet on that…"

Ryu hopped through the pillars towards Gouki. Reaching the nearest pillar, he jumped straight at him, but without an open leg. Gouki didn't bother to attack him, trying to figure out what he was trying to do. Ryu flipped through Gouki and braked, reversing his leg and kicking in. But Gouki dodged easily, and now began to take advantage of a short-distance battle.

Gouki once again began to do random, simple and slow moves, although for Ryu they were still fast. First he flung his fist at him to make him switch pillars. Then he jumped over to Ryu's pillar, and punched so hard that the pillar exploded into countless rock pieces, while Ryu jumped off to another one, missing closely. Landing over at another pillar, Gouki fired a small piece of energy at Ryu. Ryu was fast enough to actually counter the fireball with his own. The two fireballs both collided between the fighters, and caused another explosion, which fired directly at both of them, causing them to jump off their current pillars while they exploded.

Gouki now began to rapidly fade from one pillar to another, in an attempt to confuse Ryu. The helpless Ryu couldn't do anything until he finally spotted the giant Gouki on his own pillar. Thinking fast, Ryu pulled off a whirlwind kick, which Gouki quickly evaded by fading to a neighbor pillar.

The rumbling of the island intensified. The pillars slowly began to sink in the steaming lava. Ryu and Gouki, however, couldn't care because of the battle.

Ryu charged more energy, and this time shot at the ceiling above Gouki. Ryu charged another fireball, as the breaking rocks and stalactites from the ceiling tumbled upon Gouki's pillar. Ryu thrust the second fireball, and Gouki quickly slashed away the rocks and defended much weakly against it. The fireball damaged his arm.

"Hm…"

_He actually managed to hit._

Not being able to think further, Gouki faded to another pillar to dodge another fireball, which hit and blew up his former pillar. But Ryu kept on collecting quick energy and firing it at Gouki as fast as possible. Gouki evaded and finally reached Ryu's pillar.

"_Shoryuken!_"

The uppercut, although not as strong enough to hurt Gouki, actually connected to him and left him to purposely act out the rest of the scene to fly high and kick off the ceiling above, landing on another pillar.

By now, most of the pillars had been exploded, and the island quaked more than ever.

_Come on, Ryu… Finish up the battle, quick..._, Adon thought, gritting his teeth as he watched the remaining pillars slowly sinking.

Ryu and Gouki crashed into each other, both rocketing at each other with ferocious whirlwind kicks. As they both collided, an actual whirlwind formed and caught both of them, causing the lava to splatter the surrounding area, as the whirlwind carried them higher, slowly.

And slowly, the whirlwind became taller and taller, carrying them both higher and higher. Gouki managed to control the wind and break free. Alarmed by Gouki's strength, Ryu competed and broke his way out of the now giant whirlwind with another whirlwind kick. Both of them now had to save themselves from falling into the lava, far below. They were both falling at a fleeting speed. They both kicked the surrounding wall of the area, keeping away from the cyclone that was still in the middle of them, and battled in mid-air, kicking and punching at each other, then kicking at the opposite wall, and kicking off to hit each other again.

Thinking up a plan, Ryu attempted to kick Gouki back inside the cyclone so that he could have more time to attack in a more focused skill. But Gouki was double his size, and the idea seemed idiotic. But they were both reaching the area of the pillars again, and Ryu now had to think up a way to land on a pillar, safe. Too busy thinking out a way, Ryu couldn't block the robust kick from Gouki that hit him and sent him flying. Gouki, being powerful, landed supremely onto a pillar, making it break down with the impact, and kicked off to land softly on another one.

The giant whirlwind finally slowed down, but Ryu was still in the danger of falling towards the ground. There was no possible way for him to save himself now. He was off-guard in the air, helplessly falling into his own fate. But suddenly he felt being grasped by two hands. He was taken to a pillar and put down. He looked back, and saw Adon, who had just saved his life.

"Dude, be careful!" Adon said loudly.

But it was too late to talk. Most of the pillars had already sunk inside the lava. Only three pillars remained. Ryu and Adon were standing on one of them, and Gouki on another. The third pillar was empty. Ryu, however, was on his knees and too worked out to do anything. That last whirlwind had squeezed out all his energy.

"The game has reached its end," Gouki declared.

The three pillars remaining, however, were also going down. The island quaked loudly.

"Ryu, this island isn't going to live long enough," Adon shouted, fighting the voice of the rumbling and exploding with his own to make Ryu hear him. "We've got about a minute to get the hell out of here!"

"Your decision has led you here," Gouki alerted them, "Now it's my decision to let you go."

Suddenly, although Ryu was weak as ever, something inside him rose rapidly. Was it the spirit?

Gouki suddenly began to steam. His body unleashed dark, evil energy. The energy rose up in the air like smoke. A dark aura surrounded him.

"Ryu, he's gonna pull off something really powerful, let's go!" Adon shouted.

But Ryu was not ready to lose. He stood up, and formed a fireball stance. Feeling more enthusiastic than ever, the energy flowed out of his palms like the unstoppable wind. The blue energy formed a sphere.

"Ryu, we don't have time!!" Adon said, worrying about the fact that the pillars they were standing on were going to sink in the lava in a matter of seconds.

"Give it all, Ryu, battle my Raging Demon with a pathetic fireball," Gouki demanded, his dark aura compelling quickly.

But Gouki observed something far beyond his expectance. The energy between Ryu's hands, forming into a fireball, began to show a hint of red. It was also being charged longer than Ryu had ever charged a fireball before. What was this sudden potential? How did it raise so quickly?

And then, Ryu's fireball evolved to a burning, energy-packed, _flaming_ fireball. Ryu seemed more courageous than he had been before. 

_Maybe… this boy is not as wasted as I graded him to be…_

Ryu hurled the fireball. The ominous energy hammered into Gouki. He could feel the flame running through his veins, his blood. Yes… this was the power he longed for, for so long. _This boy… he's far more interesting than that last one with the flaming fists. Although apprentices of an idiot, they have a special power of their own… but this one is far individual in power, from the other one._

Suddenly, Ryu looked around. The pillar he was standing on, was only inches above the lava. He looked around. Adon was still by his side.

"Come on, Ryu, over there!" Adon pointed to the exit. It seemed like they were destined to have a remaining pillar this close to the place from where they entered. They both leaped off their pillars and onto the surface of a non-lava ground. Ryu looked back, and didn't see Gouki anywhere. Where had he gone? All three of the pillars had now sunk into the lava.

The island quaked forcefully. Ryu and Adon ran for the boat from where they came. Adon jumped into the boat. "Come on, Ryu!"

Before getting in the boat, Ryu suddenly began to feel something… someone saying something inside his mind. _You have the Satso no Hadou… You are like a younger version of me… can you really battle someone who is going through the same fate that you will, Ryu? … Will you?_

Ryu paused, his eyes wide open, dumbstruck.

"Come on, RYU!!!!" Adon shouted.

…

……..

As the boat jetted away, the island of Gokuento exploded. The powerful waves ripped through the ocean like a zig-zag, the island being the center.

"We made it," Adon beamed. Then added, "…perhaps I'm not ready for Gouki. I probably never will. What you've gone through… that was a hell battle. I'm definitely not the person… nope… My likes are not for Gouki."

**[Dirt Path, Japan]**

The path where so far no traffic had gone through was unusually quiet, but just the way Ryu liked it for his training. Then again, who would walk in such a lonesome path except a wounded man who had gone through a terribly confusing and painful battle and conflict?

Ryu, hardly being able to carry his bag, began to realize he was bleeding in random spots too. The giant cyclone back there had really ripped his skin badly. He had nothing in his bag, no curing item. There were no spare clothes in there either, because at the time his clothes were teared and ripped from the battle. Since Adon had left back for Thailand, Ryu couldn't do much by himself right now.

He caught sight of a nice, graceful spot of clean soil. It looked heavenly. Thinking about the fact that he was weak as ever, Ryu began to withdraw all his food from the bag and rested at the spot, following with a short nap.

But the short nap turned out to be a long one. Ryu woke up seeing a hint of sun coming from the far horizon. It was sunrise, and a very beautiful one. Sunrise was easily the best time to train, even more than sunset. But still feeling tired, Ryu didn't feel like training. He had finished up all his food last night too. And he didn't feel like sleeping either. He didn't want to rot in this dirt path from the deadly rays of sunlight either, so he stretched and yawned and forced himself up, carrying on his journey, with his bag behind his back.

"Ryu?"

Ryu halted, and quickly turned back to find a very muscular, cool-looking man wearing red martial arts clothes, long, blondish hair, with a red ribbon tied to the near end to keep it from separating. Ken Masters grinned at him, and dashed over to him, grabbing him by the neck and tapping his fist to his head teasingly. Ryu grabbed Ken and threw him a distance away.

"Hey!" Ryu grinned for the first time after months. "Ken! Long time no see…"

"Are you crazy?!" Ken laughed. "We haven't met until our last training… when was that…"

"Uhh," Ryu thought. "About six years?"

"Exactly, and guess how long that is?" Ken said furiously.

"Um…six years?"

Ken gritted his teeth, annoyed. "You're still the same old Ryu. Thought you would have changed to a more mature, powerful man."

"Well you're not the same at all," Ryu scratched his head, "What's with that hair? You're crazy! That's so not Japanese... That's not American either, in fact."

"Uh-huh," Ken nodded sarcastically. "Listen, Ryu, did you hear—"

"Yeah, I know… Gouki," Ryu said quickly.

Ken nodded. "I sorta edged him away from master's place after he murdered…. I don't think he's dead, though."

"He didn't die," Ryu responded. "I challenged him later."

"You made it out alive," Ken said, blinking. "Well…anyway… you ought to be careful, Ryu. That man's not normal. In fact, he's not a human being… that attack… it…"

"It was Ansatsuken, the same style that we use for fighting," Ryu said, "…but we never witnessed it."

"Ryu, he's still not normal," Ken advised, "he claims to be an Ansatsuken fighter… but that guy's something else. In fact I don't even see how he let himself get hit with my Shoryuu Reppa."

"Shoryuu Reppa?" Ryu blinked.

"Uhh," Ken turned red, "... we all have to make moves of our own, ya know."

Ryu laughed. "If that's a move, you definitely haven't changed since our training!"

"You!" Ken said furiously, jumping on top of Ryu, wrestling with him. "We better settle a match then, huh, Ryu?"

"Arr, no," Ryu said dizzily after being punched a few times from Ken. "That battle with _him_ really worked me out."

"Awwww, are you _tired_, perhaps?" Ken whined teasingly.

"Shut up, Ken," Ryu said. "I'm serious!"

"Really?" Ken said, acting confused.

"Grrr… fine then. But if I lose, don't get overconfident."

Ryu stood up, watching the now huge smile on Ken's face. Ken already seemed overconfident, but didn't seem to notice that Ryu was actually tired, instead thinking he was only acting like it.

Ken rushed over to Ryu, grabbed him, and threw him aside. Ryu flipped over and blocked a fist coming at him, countering with a rather weak uppercut. Ken easily recovered in the air, and pummeled a hard foot into Ryu's face, causing him to collide back. Ken scratched his head.

"Um…was that it?"

Ryu sat up, and Ken realized blood coming out of his forehead, soaking the white bandana, and also from his nose and mouth.

"Dude, you're totally screwed," Ken said, alarmed.

"Say that again?" Ryu said sarcastically.

Ken rushed over to his old partner in training and helped him up. "You should've told me not to go that hard on you, not on the condition you're in."

Ken grabbed a towel from out of nowhere and handed it to Ryu, who wiped his face from blood with it. "Thanks, Ken."

"No problem."

Ryu took off his bandana. "Bleh…fresh from the river of blood," he said, disgusted by the blood dripping down from the now red bandana.

"Heh, that's a river all right," Ken confirmed, looking at Ryu, whose eyes were barely visible because of the hair covering it. Ken paused, thought for a minute, and sighed, untying the red ribbon that was holding his hair, and held it out to Ryu.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ryu said loudly. "That's your ribbon!"

"Use it as your bandana, buddy," Ken said, grinning.

Ryu hesitated, but took the offer anyway, tying his newer bandana around his forehead tightly. "Hm…this one is pretty good, honestly."

"Probably is," Ken said conceitedly, "At least red gives you another color instead of wearing white all the time."

"Well you're always wearing red," Ryu replied.

"Only during training," Ken said quickly. "Oh, and you need another suit, buddy. You're out of date."

"Not everyone has dollars raining on top of their roof, Ken," Ryu said, pointing to his only possession: the bag he always carried around.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Ken said. "Well, anyway… take care of yourself, Ryu. I heard many people are after you… didn't know why until I read you were in the Street Fighter tournament."

"Okay," Ryu nodded understandingly, "We'll meet another day and perhaps fight then."

"Until then," Ken acted out a good-bye solute.

**[Tokyo, Japan]**

Two days later, Ryu finally made it back to loud voices, screaming kids, and the smell of awkwardness in the air. The red bandana on his forehead had somewhat contributed to Ryu's spirit of fighting. Perhaps it was the friendship that Ryu and Ken had shared greatly. Although it was a rivalry friendship, they were still friends…weren't they?

And because of this feeling of pride, Ryu didn't feel stupid walking in the streets of Tokyo, where lonesome could never be found. The people still looked at him with a peculiar look. But then again, how would a man with ripped clothes, a bag behind his bag, looking like a tourist, seem like when walking openly, in an open city?

Ryu didn't know where to go next. His muscles were still pretty much aching. The wounds that were bleeding had stopped, but if they had been poked even a bit, they would bleed.

Walking through a very narrow street, Ryu spotted some boys and girls playing soccer in a school's courtyard. Ryu read the title in huge letters, written above the school's entrance, which said, "Minami High School". Sighing while looking at all the kids play, Ryu wished he was there at that time. Perhaps then, he could have made friends. But he always grew up on the street, until he was adopted by Gouken and hired in the Ansatsuken field of fighting, instead of an institute. Now, fate's decision made it so that Ryu could live for only fighting, and nothing else. _Fate_ had.

Ryu felt a soft, but rather quick, poke on the back of his neck. He swung around forcefully and connected his eye to the person who had poked him.

"Huh?"

It was a schoolgirl, who had just collapsed on the ground due to Ryu's sudden reaction to her poking. Ryu blinked.

"Um, you okay?" Ryu asked in a confused tune.

"Yep," the girl responded cheerfully, jumping up quickly and standing on her feet. "Hello, Ryu! My name is Sakura!"

Ryu blinked once again at the girl's odd introduction.

"H-hello…Sakura."

Sakura quickly observed the Ryu standing in front of him. Ryu gritted his teeth. _Maybe Ken was right about my damn clothes, so many people staring at me._

"I take it, you need new clothes!" Sakura smiled.

"Nope," Ryu said, walking away.

"H-hey! Where do you think you're going?"

Sakura followed him. Ryu walked quickly. She followed even faster. Ryu jumped over a six-foot tall brick wall. She did the same, although much more easily than Ryu had expected. He began to run, as fast as he could, to get rid of the weird girl. But she ran, at about the same speed as him. Ryu stopped, and turned around.

"Errr, what's your problem?!" He asked, annoyed.

"I don't have problems, you do!" Sakura claimed, grinning oddly. "You're the one running away. I want a nice battle with you."

"Heck no," Ryu declared. "I won't fight a kid… and besides, you're a girl."

"Ooo, underestimating the power of pink, are ya!" Sakura punched him.

@_@

"Well guess what! I'm not pink, I'm blue! Get it on, boy!"

Ryu turned red. All the people had their eyes fixed upon the two of them. Sakura seemed rather confident. She probably knew these people anyway, since they were part of the neighborhood.

"I didn't mean it that way, kid," Ryu said, acting normally, "go away."

Before Sakura could respond, Ryu thought he was wasting his time. He needed to get out of here! _Oooooo from now on, I'd go anywhere but Tokyo_.

Ryu, becoming rather serious now, dashed across the streets, even through traffic roads, but Sakura somehow managed to do the same, although much slower. Ryu finally found a dead end, sneaked in, and watched the girl pass by after a minute.

"Lost her," Ryu gulped.

He looked behind himself, and noticed that this was _not_ a dead end. It almost seemed like it, until Ryu noticed that there was a fence blocking the way to deserted woods, with a sign on top of it saying "Do not cross", and a man standing beyond the fence, gaping deeply into his eyes.

**[Forbidden Woods, Tokyo, Japan]**

It was Sagat. Not having time to observe him any longer, Ryu was grabbed by the shirt, and thrown inside the forbidden woods. Ryu looked around, not being able to tell _why_ the woods were forbidden. But right now he had something else to be worried about.

"Ryu!" Sagat screeched. "Forgot me already?"

"Sagat…," Ryu said slowly.

"Alias 'your killer'," Sagat formed a powerful fist. "Prepare, Ryu. You humiliated me in front of my people back in the tournament. The country became disappointed in me. Adon stole the title from me. But now, all that shame… all of it… it's going to evaporate at your death from my fist."

Ryu thought out what Sagat had said, and stood up, throwing his bag a distance away.

"Sagat…"

"Don't talk to me!" Sagat shouted. "Let's finish the battle. Here, no one will be able to listen. You should be happy, Ryu, that you're not being humiliated in front of _your_ people like I was. You're fighting me alone, but only because this is the end of your life."

Ryu quickly transformed his emotion to anger. He glared at Sagat. 

"So, you came here to fight me for a certain _revenge_?" He hissed. "You came to Japan, to beat the crap out of me, to satisfy yourself? Will this satisfy _your_ people back in Thailand?"

"…No," Sagat said. "But it will give me the thirst that I have longed for."

"Thirst, huh," Ryu said, still angry. "Sagat…you're pathetic! Back then, I thought precisely of you, but you have washed away that opinion from my mind. I thought you were strong, very strong. At that time I understood why the people of Thailand… supported you. They _liked_ you."

"They _liked_ me only until I lost!" Sagat argued.

"But you still didn't lose your title!" Ryu replied.

"Enough!!!" Sagat screamed, rushing towards Ryu, with a firm fist. He punched Ryu rigorously in the ribs, causing him to fly back and knock into a tree. Sagat repeated a cycle of kicking Ryu around the woods before he could get back up. Then he finally booted Ryu as hard as he could for one last time, giving his legs a rest and switching to his fists.

Sagat first used the fists to form large energy arrow-like shapes, to a fireball, and hurling it at Ryu. Ryu kicked off a tree and narrowly dodged the fireball. But there were more fireballs being fired from Sagat. Ryu skipped and bounced around the area, dodging each fireball as fast as he could. The fireballs were pretty fast themselves. And then, Ryu noticed, that this was another tactic that Sagat had used back in the tournament.

Taking note of that, Ryu slowly approached Sagat while hopping around to avoid the fireballs, but Sagat proved to be cleverer than before, now halting to collect much more energy than he normally did. He was going to create a humongous, unavoidable fireball. Ryu rushed forward to stop the attack, but Sagat already unleashed the energy at him. Ryu swiftly formed a highly defensive stance, keeping the whole attack power of the fireball from hurting him. The fireball slowly faded into the air.

"Hm…," Sagat wondered thoughtfully. "Still the smartass tactic boy like before, Ryu?"

Ryu didn't respond. He didn't care to point out to Sagat that he was being much weaker than before. Back then, Sagat never talked in the middle of a battle. Wasn't that Sagat's motto? 'It's the _fight_, that matters'…?

Sagat darted towards Ryu, and pummeled him, first on the chest, then across the face, and then straight into the forehead. Ryu shrilled loudly, falling back and crashing into a tree, making it fall. But, as he sat there, profoundly damaged, he realized how Sagat only grew in strength, but not in skill.

Sagat approached Ryu, and Ryu raised his head to look up boldly at the tall man looked down at him.

"See this, Ryu?" Sagat pointed to a very cruel mark made across his chest. "This is your dirt on my significance."

Ryu thought about the scar. The memory inside his head of it was blurry, but he knew that Ryu was responsible for it.

"Sagat, you are fighting off plain anger," Ryu said thoughtfully, "…it's like you're possessed with it! You fight thinking that no one can defeat you. Such conceit can someday kill you, Sagat… without your old, intelligent self; you won't be able to defend yourself against that man who might someday take advantage of your enraged strength."

Sagat paused. Ryu knew that he was considering what he had just said. But the anger once again took over Sagat.

"Shut up!" He smacked Ryu once again. "So you're saying, that some wimp like you can actually kill _me_, the lord of fighting?"

"If I wanted, I could have been that man responsible of your murder, because your only weakness is easily noticeable… anger, that is."

Sagat screamed loudly, grabbing his head. He screeched louder than ever, his voice echoing all through the woods. It seemed that Sagat was going through a very difficult conflict in his head.

"Y…you bastard!" Sagat said. "I…I will kill you some other day!!!!! And double times harder!!"

With those weakly-said phrases, Sagat stomped away, after landing one last blow to Ryu's bloody face.

Ryu rested at that spot where Sagat had placed him to beat. He was soaking with blood. The wounds he had with the battle with Gouki had reopened with this battle. He almost pitied Sagat… a man who took the wrong path after defeat.

And then, Ryu heard a small sound behind him. He slowly revolved his head to the other direction, and spotted Sakura, holding a bag in her hand.

"H..hey.."

"Hey, Ryu," Sakura said slowly, noticing he had been badly hurt, then rushing over to him. "Are you okay? Hold on, I'll open up my kit."

She withdrew a very large box of first-aid from the bag she was carrying. Ryu blinked slowly.

"Hm…," he said observingly. "It's like you knew what was going to happen to me, huh?"

Sakura giggled slightly, beginning to treat him. "Well, actually, I bought this for you after I lost track of where you went. I decided to get you this…oh, and this too—"

She took out what looked like a very bright, clean, and elite-looking karate uniform, just like the one Ryu had, only it looked more expensive.

"Uhh, you didn't need to buy me that," Ryu said.

"Well, I like to," Sakura said, continuing to treat him. They didn't talk for about a minute.

"By the way, why were you following me?" Ryu asked.

"Oh, that," Sakura said, "Well, I saw your battle with that guy Sagat in the Street Fighter Tournament. I actually _visited_ to the battle stadium, and got front-row seats to see you. You were awesome! Since then, I've been your biggest fan and always wanted to see you. Some of my friends are your fans too."

"But you're more of a fanatic," Ryu said.

"Yep…by the way, can I have your autograph?"…


	6. The Saikyo Style

**[ S t r e e t F i g h t e r A l p h a (2) ( P a r t 2 ) ]**

**[Shadaloo Base, Amazon Jungle, Brazil]**

_Buzzz……Buzz…_

"Is he all right?"

_Buzzz….. Buzz…Buzzzzzz..!_

"I dunno, he's been sort of dull…"

"You think he needs a break? He hasn't had one for about a week."

"Master Vega might be mad…"

"Shall we ask for permission?"

_Buzz…Buzzzzbuzzz!!_

_BOOM!_

"Err….he collapsed…"

"Is he dead?"

"Hm…no…I guess he does really need a break. What do you say, two days? Let's go contact Master Vega."

"Poor no-life…sometimes I feel sorry for him."

**[*, Japan]**

"Did you get his autograph, Sakura?"

"Of course I did!"

Sakura and her friend, Satsuki, were walking to their house, talking about how she had met Ryu the day before. Although she was excited, Sakura felt that Ryu wasn't very talkative, and was in a hurry to go away.

"Did the training pay off?" Satsuki asked her.

"Training?" Sakura said, alarmed. "Oh… no, he didn't want to fight me."

"Huh? Didn't want to fight you… well then there was no point of you to meet him!"

"At least I got to meet him," Sakura sighed.

After taking twists and turns in the very narrow alley system in the neighborhood, Satsuki finally stopped at her house. These alleys were really nice to walk through. Only a bicycle could go through them. And they connected so many houses and even hidden shops, since the maze-like system was enormous. Sakura sometimes even got lost in these alleys.

"Bye, Sakura," Satsuki hopped on her house's back-door.

"See ya….."

Sakura began to walk away before Satsuki even shut the door. Suddenly, she stopped. There was a blur of light behind her, and a loud, flashy noise. She swung around and saw that Satsuki wasn't there. The door was closed. There was no light… the sound had gone.

Sakura blinked, and shrugged, continuing to walk to her house. Her house was about four alleys away. Although the way was short, Sakura stopped and caught sight of something. She looked more closely. It was a man in pink clothes, with a peculiar looking face, fighting against a few thugs.

"Huh?" Sakura wondered. She hadn't seen much fights before. This was a _street fighter_!!

But the man hardly seemed like a street fighter. His skills were monkey-like. He goofed around too much in midst the battle. As she saw him randomly roll and kick, the man was finally caught by about four thugs. Unable to move, the man wriggled around, trying to get free.

"Do let go, you pathetic fools!" the man said, gritting his teeth.

Sakura made an enthusiastic pose. "Ooo, this is my time to show off my skills! Don't worry, pink man, I'll help you!"

Sakura sprinted to the thugs and jumped all of them in a single tackle. The man stood up and scratched his head, watching Sakura repeatedly punching them with her very soft hands. The thugs, however, seemed to be hurt by the fists still.

After about a confusing minute of fiddling around, the thugs finally stood face-to-face with Sakura, standing there all by herself.

"Hm…It's a school girl!" one of the thugs said.

"Not just a school girl…she's more of a nice high school one…"

"What should we do with her, boss?"

"Take her? I go with her first, though.."

"Errr….."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura said angrily.

"Let's go, girl, we'll drop you off home."

Sakura laughed. "Like I'm stupid enough!"

"Oh come on…we _insist_…"

"Not without a fight!" Sakura said, making a strange Ansatsuken imitation stance.

"As you wish."

The thugs bolted at her, and jumped all at once. Sakura did a quick, small uppercut and caused most of them to fall. The others fell on top of her. Getting back up, four of them grabbed her two arms and two legs each. Instead of beating her to trash, they picked her up and headed for their car, parked at the exit of the alley.

"Hey!!—Let me go!"

The man with the pink clothes stood there, looking at the girl, and changed his face into a wide smirk.

"Fear not, amateur girl! I, the amazing Saikyo Master, will save you!"

The man dashed towards the thugs and began to thoughtlessly punch and kick in and out, without a certain aim. But this weird technique did work, for the thugs had no place to escape, and crashed into the alley walls. Sakura fell on her back, and blinked, not knowing whether to scream in pain or not.

"Err…thanks?"

"'Twas not to save you, a street fighter cares not for being good or evil," the man said proudly. Sakura blinked again.

"Err…ok?" she said. "….wait a minute! You're a _street fighter_?!"

"Why, lass, you know not the most amazing fighter in Japan?" the man said in disappointment. "Why, I am the amazing Dan, creator of the millennium's most admired fighting style, the Saikyo style!"

"Uh-huh," Sakura said. "So your name is Dan?"

"Dan Hibiki, aye."

"I thought the strongest street fighter in Japan was Ryu," Sakura said.

"Ryu? Oh, no no… he's merely a pathetic amateur, reflecting you….with your headband and imitation of him so profoundly!"

"That's because I'm his biggest fan!" Sakura jumped on her feet. "I will study Ansatsuken from head to toe!"

Dan looked disappointed once again. "Foolish lass… if only you knew, the amazing powers of Saikyo-ryuu."

Dan seemed miserable now, and began to walk away. Sakura lowered her head, wondering if she had let down the man. How she had, she had no idea. Feeling slightly triumphant, Sakura dashed by his side. "Could you tell me when the next Street Fighter tournament starts?"

Dan jumped slightly. "What did you say? Street fighting? You want to learn? Ahh!!—yes! You have found the right man, lass! I am the master of street fighting. Come, follow me. What has fate concluded your identity?"

"Um…what?"

"Your name, lass, your name!"

"Oh….Sakura…"

"Sakura, ah…fine name! Follow me, young Sakura."

Sakura scratched her head, not getting the answer that she wanted, and continued following him. He led her to a circular area in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by rocks. It seemed like they weren't in Tokyo anymore. In the middle of this odd place was a small shed which she suspected was Dan's home.

"Er…this place?"

"'Tis my dwelling," Dan answered instantly. "Now, I shall witness your capabilities! Drop and give me … uh.. thirty!"

"Eh…that's it?" Sakura said, taking this as a challenge. "No problem!"

She did the thirty pushups in less than a minute. Dan was surprised, but tried to remain normal.

"Still need improvement!" He said with a weird-shaped face that was stuck in the middle of impress and calm. Then asked, "Are you able to collect energy within?"

"Hm?" Sakura said, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Like this," Dan said, proudly forming a very tiny fireball in his hand and shooting it at one of the surrounding forts of rock. "_Hadouken!_"

The fireball vanished before flying six inches out of his hand. Sakura blinked in surprise, and broke into a loud laugh. Dan turned slightly red.

"Laugh not, filthy amateur! We shall see your mastery at the traditional _Hadouken_!"

"Oh, of course!" Sakura said seriously, and performed her own fireball. "_Hadouken!_"

Her fireball collided into the rock and caused a slight avalanche of rocks.

"Hm….it's still not good as Ryu's," she said, observing the blast.

But Dan's face was wrinkled again with surprise. He looked like he had swallowed a lemon. He quickly managed to straighten it up before Sakura could look at him. "Hah! One would be able to historize a mountain with a _Hadouken_! Yours is pathetically weak!"

"Um…is historize even a word?" Sakura pointed out.

Dan began to get annoyed. "If you are so powerful, break out all the surrounding rocks!"

"It's a challenge!" Sakura said, jabbing her palm with a fist.

"Shalt I return in ten whole strucks of the longest hand of a clock, so complete your mission by then!" Dan said, walking away. "Resume training."

"Mmk, ten minutes…"

Sakura scratched her head again, watching Dan disappear. What did Dan mean by _Resume training_? She shrugged to herself, and began to break down all the rocks.

**[Tokyo, Japan]**

Dan began to search around back in the city, thinking about how he would continue training his new _ apprentice_, Sakura, of his Saikyo style. Upon thinking so deeply, he bumped into someone who was apparently about double his size. Dan fell.

"Ouch! Err… sorry sir.."

Dan looked up to the face of the huge man, who was still standing there, looking down at him.

"S….Sagat?!"

Dan stood up, enraged. "You!!!"

Sagat kept his gaze on him, scanning who he was. "…Go?"

"It's not Go, you asshole!!!"

"Hm… I thought so?" Sagat said, scanning more deeply. "You look much weaker…must be the spawn of that loser."

"Grrrrr…!!!" Dan jumped up and kicked into Sagat's face once with the right leg, and then left leg, and right leg again, before landing back on the ground, watching him crash a distance away from him.

"How was that?" Dan said, steaming with fiery.

Sagat sat back up in no time, scanning Dan once again with his single eye.

_…_

_The battle back with Ryu… although short, I hesitantly learned that I was being an idiot… should I have overlapped my anger with more impact on my skill? Yes, skill does sort out your paths more easily than anger does…_

_Anger is more like… crushing your way through what you desire most. In the end—you realize the anger has been going in a circle…traveling in this circle-like path, takes you back to the position where you were back at the time where you began._

_…_

_At this moment, I am in the place of Ryu.. and he—this boy…Go's son, is in the place of me at the time I wanted to avenge my loss to Ryu… Ryu didn't want to fight back with me, because he knew he'd be wasting his time fighting against the opposite of my true potential._

_…should I do the same?_

"Prepare, Sagat, to be defeated!" Dan shouted, attracting the attention from all the surrounding people.

Sagat stood up, acting weaker than he actually was. Dan rushed towards him as fast as he could and shot in as many fast and quick punches as possible, ending with a high uppercut. Sagat flew back a distance and landed far away.

_The uppercut… why did this attack become the finishing move for so many?_

Dan's anger seemed to have finished off. Although still flaming with fury, his mission was complete. He began to walk away and caught sight of Sakura, standing there a distance from him. After dealing with the surprise of Dan beating up someone she hardly could see, she walked over to him in her usual triumphant mode.

"You said you'd be gone for _ten_ minutes?" She said, pretending to be mad. "I had the job done in five!"

"Hmph…good for you," Dan said.

"By the way, who was that guy?" Sakura asked.

"No one…"

"Hmm…he was pretty tall, like that guy from Thailand…Sagat…," Sakura wondered.

"..How…do you know Sagat?" Dan asked, gritting his teeth.

"Well, I'm learning about street fighters worldwide, for one," Sakura said, "and… I saw Sagat in the Street Fighter tournament."

"Oh.."

"So, that _was_ Sagat, right?" Sakura asked.

Dan nodded.

"Hm…last time I saw him he gave Ryu quite a time…in fact, Sagat had actually defeated Ryu, but you know how Ryu is…pushing himself harder than he actually can…but he lost to you so easily…"

Dan nodded once again, gritting his teeth even harder. At last, Dan heard something that was important to him.

"Newspapers!! Only a quarter each! Headline: Critical Explosion in mid-Amazon Jungle, Brazil!"

Dan formed a firm fist, and followed the voice. It was a man holding a bunch of newspapers, walking around. Dan hurried toward him, ignoring Sakura's babble of talk that had no head or tail. He could tell that she was tailing him though.

"Well, hello, would you like a newspaper? Only a quarter each," the newspaper man said.

"Yes, onc, please," Dan said.

"What do you need a newspaper for, you geek! Let's have a match!" Sakura whined.

Dan ignored her, and read the newspaper…. Or atleast _tried_ to. He had now found a use for Sakura.

"Er...Sakura," he said to her pleadingly, "Will you read me the headline, please?"

"Huh?" Sakura said, blinking. "You can't read?"

Dan turned red, but overcame it easily. "A fighter has no time for education."

"Yeah, sure," Sakura said sarcastically. "Um ok…here we go with the headlines…_Critical Explosion in mid-Amazon Jungle, Brazil…Many reports have been applied about boisterous noises of suspected explosions. People in the city Rio Branco conclude that these noises came from the far north._

_" 'These disturbances,' says the scientist Andre Kortman, 'are from no other than the Amazon. After taking notice of these explosions, we headed off to the Amazon and found areas with revoltingly burnt-down trees…As we progressed further in a couple of hours, we received signs of smoke and none other than fire. The causes of these fires was not a lightning storm, satellite signals proved no sign of any approaching storm at all. And looking at the fact that the fires established in different areas—it seems that we may not reach the core of this issue yet.'_

_"It's no doubt that these fires initiated from electrical disturbances. However, we cannot explain how this could have been done. 'The possibilities are vast, but due to past experiences with the threats of Shadaloo, there is nothing impossible…'"_

"Hm…." Dan thought. "I don't see why the hell they don't get to the point. Using high vocabulary is so stupid."

"Well, looking at the fact that I've understood your weird talk back then—" Sakura said, being cut off by Dan.

"—I'm going to Brazil. Will you come with me?"

"Um…ok," Sakura said. "Hey…as a matter of fact, you're starting to talk normal now! I was wondering how I was living so easily for the current few minutes."

"Uh huh, whatever," Dan said sarcastically. "Well, come along, Sakura!"

"Yeah, ok…off to Brazil we go," Sakura said. "…wait a minute…_why_ are we going to Brazil?"

"Glad you asked," Dan said. "I may have a solution to this buzzzzzzzzzy issue."

"Buzzzy?" Sakura said, confused. "Oh, you mean 'electrical'?"

**[Shadaloo Base, Amazon, Brazil]**

"Ah, here we are!" Dan said victoriously. "It has been a long walk, don't you think, my pupil?"

"Of course not, what are you talking about?" Sakura replied sarcastically, falling on her knees with her hands on her tired legs.

"Ah…that's not the spirit of a pupil of the Saikyo still… you must be resolute!" Dan said, although he was tired as well.

"What is this place anyway?" Sakura asked.

"Hm…Good question," Dan said thoughtfully. "I…I remember this place, though…"

"You do?" Sakura said. "How?...have you been here before…?"

"I…"

"Hm…although I have no idea what we're doing here, I know we're going to have to whoop some butt, right?" Sakura said.

"Now that's what I called a Saikyo pupil!" Dan said, gaining his usual hyper self again. "Let us proceed, shall we?"

"Of course!"

They both found the main gate of the base, and found two guards guarding the gate as well. Sakura thrashed out both of them without making them scream once. Dan blinked.

"Piece of cake.."

They advanced and found even more guards. This time Dan got to show off his skills, since there were so many. Later they discovered what was no doubt a maze. There were three long halls that went down as far as you could see.

"Which one should we take?" Sakura said, and put a smirk on her face. "Or do you wanna go separate ways? Gives more of a challenge."

Dan turned red. "Of course not! Fighting in a team is a moral of the Saikyo style. Let us take _this_ way first."

Dan pointed to the ceiling. Sakura looked up and scanned a plate. She hopped on top of Dan's shoulder and opened up the plate. As she tried to throw the plate on the floor, Dan fell, making her fall as well. Luckily, Sakura thrust the plate in a different direction before falling.

"Ouch!" She shrieked. "What's up with you?"

"Hush," Dan said. "Let's go in, you go first."

"Why me?"

"You have yet to discover how to be a leader."

"Whatever."

Sakura hopped inside the tunnel that the round metal plate had covered. Dan hopped in after her. They both crawled down the dreadfully long tunnel and finally got the chance to find an open area to stand up. Sakura straightened her back.

"Ah..this seems a dangerous place," Dan said skillfully. "Don't touch the walls. Might be protected."

"How could you turn so smart now?" Sakura said in a wondering tune.

"Arrr, are you questioning from your master?" Dan said, pretending to be angry.

"Master?" Sakura said, confused. "Um…"

"Huh?" Dan said.

"Uh…"

They both stared at each other for a long bewildered minute. Sakura was just clouded thinking why Dan was including words like pupil and master to describe her.

"What's up with you?" she asked him. "You're weird…"

"Let's just keep going," Dan said.

Although they were going on their feet again, it was a long way until they finally found a new way to go. There was a hole on the floor now, and a ladder leading down.

"Must be a shortcut," Sakura said, jumping down and observing the sewer-like system. "This reeks!"

"Aye, how righteous you are!" Dan agreed.

"Now, don't start with that kind of talk again," Sakura whined, still looking at the contaminated water.

"Yeah, ok," Dan sighed. "Don't you hear that sound?"

"Hm…there's too many sounds here to mind just one," Sakura said.

"That buzzing sound?"

Sakura listened more closely. There _was_ a buzzing sound. "Yeah…what could it be?"

"Electricity, of course," Dan said.

"Where is it coming from?" She asked. "It's like coming from all directions…"

"Listen more closely!" Dan advised. "The skill of hearing keenly is vital in the Saikyo style."

"That's for you to know, I'm an Ansatsuken," Sakura denied.

Dan was too busy hearing the sound of the buzzing to be outraged at Sakura's words of being an Ansatsuken fighter. By this, Sakura could tell that Dan too didn't have the 'skill of hearing keenly'.

They passed through the sewer and finally found another ladder leading up to another hole. They climbed up and the buzzing sound grew louder.

"See, I was right in going this direction!" Dan said triumphantly.

"Don't get too happy, the sewer was only leading to one direction," Sakura said to him.

"Uh-huh," Dan said, being annoyed of Sakura for once. "You know, you have too much smart-talk to say."

"I'm only sticking to the facts!" Sakura said aggressively.

"Whatever," Dan said, growing more annoyed. But he overcame this irritation by finally finding that he was meters away from the buzzing sound. He looked around. There were two halls to go to, one led right and one left. He looked at the left, and there were signs of electricity there. He looked right, there were signs of electricity there too!

"Huh?" Dan said, puzzled. "Both places lead to the buzzing."

"Observe deeper, oh intelligent one," Sakura said, pointing ahead. "There's a shiny gate over there. That must be the core of the sources in both these rooms."

"Oh—yeah," Dan said, walking towards the gate straight ahead with Sakura. She opened the door and revealed a tremendous area. It was nearly magnificent… There were a number of see-through chambers in here, which were supposedly made of glass. There were electric conductivity materials, and there was a strange capsule in the middle of the area.

"What is that?" Sakura said, pointing to the capsule. "It's too shiny to see what's inside."

"Mass electric focus in that thing," Dan explained about the capsule.

As the advanced a few steps in the area, Sakura finally pointed out that back then, both the right and left passages were leading to this very same area. They both continued walking through narrow areas, hopping over pipes, and crouching under defensive blades (which were operated by a machine, and kept slashing at the same level, back and forth).

The prize of all that labor of what seemed like an hour was finally their approach towards the capsule.

"Finally, this place is a disaster! They have so much protection," Sakura said, catching her breath.

"Well, this must be…"

Dan was getting slightly worried. He bit his lip, and continued towards the capsule. It was still gleaming with electricity. As they both reached close to it, Sakura advised, "Don't touch it… you know it's not going to be good."

They looked around and found what they were looking for. "This lever will probably do the trick…"

Dan reversed the lever and, just as he expected, the electricity turned off. The capsule now revealed a beast so immense, it was about double the mass of Dan and Sakura together. The beast had the shape of a human… two arms, two legs, the same structure of a human. However, his body was green, the arms were so long they could touch the ground, and his legs were bent. He had red, spiky hair that shot back like fire from his head and a little way down his wrist. He was also wearing silver, vast bangles wrapped around his massive legs.

Sakura backed away. "WHAT…IN THE WORLD……..IS THAT?!?!?!?!!!"

Dan, however, seeming courageous, stood there, gazing at the beast. Sakura tried to whisper to him, but he seemed not to hear her at all.

"Dan….get away!!" she hissed. Giving up, she looked up at the capsule and noticed a title on it saying _ Blanka_.

"Blanka?" She repeated loudly. The beast opened his eyes suddenly, and set them on top of Sakura. He observed her for a bit, making her scowl much more, and suddenly erupted. The capsule surrounding him shattered into pieces and charged off in different directions. The beast roared loudly at her.

Dan turned around swiftly to see Sakura stepping back even more. "D-dan…what's it want with me?"

Dan couldn't answer, but noticed that this beast was already setting for her. Sakura bolted around the little area with the beast following her.

"W-wait!!" Dan rushed in the Beast's path, who tackled him down and forced him on the ground with his enormous paws. Sakura halted and turned around.

"Dan!" She rushed back and jump-kicked the Beast away. Dan got back up.

"Are you stupid?!" Sakura shouted. "What are you trying to act, brave? Let's get out of here!"

Sakura tried to hold on to Dan and run away, but Dan just stood there blankly, staring at the beast. _Who is this beast..? He seems so familiar……_

Dan shook his head and now saw the beast standing right in front of him, only inches away. Paralyzed with fear, he had to be tackled by Sakura to be able to move. Then, they both quickly got back up and ran away.

"It's about time!" Sakura shouted as they both dashed around the area, avoiding all the defensive blades, with the beast following them rapidly. "Not so brave now, are you?"

"It's all a game!" Dan shouted back cheerfully. "You can never find out what's fun about death until you play around with it!"

"Hey, it's that buzzy noise again!" Sakura notified, as they kept rushing away from the beast.

Dan took a risk to turn his head back to see the beast gaining on them, with electricity sparkling around him. Dan's heart beated rapidly.

"What's the matter?" Sakura shouted at him.

"H…he….can produce electricity straight from his body!!" Dan shouted back.

"W…WHAT?!"

Too afraid to be aware of this problem, they both kept dashing as fast as they could. They stopped at a dead-end area, although it was very large as well.

"Where were we running to?" Dan asked.

"I don't know…we were too busy running to know where we were going," Sakura said. "Where's the beast?"

"We must've lost him," Dan said. "But if he finds us now, we're toast. There's nowhere to go from here!"

Sakura looked around, and had to agree with Dan, unfortunately. There was nothing… no doors, no ladders. And yet this area was so large, like the one where the capsule of the beast was. The only things different about this area was that there were large, see-through windows here. Sakura sprinted over to one and looked down.

"Whoah!" She exclaimed. "We must be on the highest floor…"

Dan looked outside one of the windows too. "Yeah…We can't possibly jump down from here to save our lives."

"But there is water down there," Sakura pointed out.

"Yeah…must be part of the river," Dan said. "Even if we jump in there, the current will lead us to our own deaths."

"Agreed…" 

They heard a clatter of noise behind them. They both swung around at the same time to see a force of guards facing them. One of the men said something in Brazilian. To Sakura's surprise, Dan replied back in Brazilian.

"Huh? You can speak Brazilian?" she said, bewildered.

"Of course! I know a variety of languages," Dan said proudly.

"Cool!" Sakura said, smirking. _Perhaps, with him, I can travel to other countries…_

But it was too early to be excited. The men began to surround them.

"I think we got ourselves in a situation," Sakura said.

"Hmm….but we will not fall!" Dan exclaimed. "The Saikyo style is unlimited in power!"

They both began to punch and kick and tackle their way out of the lines and lines of guards. For a while the guards kept trying over and over to capture them, but they were too wild to be caught easily. In the end, one of the men shouted something to tell all of them.

"Oh no!" Dan shrieked.

"What did he say?" Sakura asked, concerned.

"They're bringing in…him…"

"The…beast?!" Sakura said, in a panicky tone.

They kept fighting the men around them, but since they were outnumbered, they couldn't escape the area. In less than a minute, they heard a roar, and a crash on the ground. All of them jumped up and fell back down because of the beast's loud thrash.

"Arrr….that's the THIRD time I fell on my butt so violently!!" Sakura shouted.

"Don't whine," Dan said. "We've got ourselves a bigger problem."

All the guards cleared out to make way for the beast. Now there was only Dan, Sakura, and the beast standing there on the wide area. Dan stared in the beast's eye… they were sparkling yellow, like made out of electricity… Dan kept wondering deeply into his mind…

This beast was so familiar… but, how?

The beast approached him and Sakura slowly. 

"Oh noooo," Sakura muttered. "We..can't..save..ourselves..now…………oh noooooooooooo…I rather fall on my butt ten times than deal with this situation!! Wait….eleven times!—no…eleven is too much………………..ISN'T TEN ENOUGH?!?!?! ………Arrrggggghhh…DAN!!! CUT IT OUT! STOP DAYDREAMING!!!!!!"

Finally, Dan said something to the beast.

"J…Jimmy?"

The beast stopped there, halted like a statue. Its yellow, sparkling eyes opened wide. For a while, it seemed that the beast had softened down… Its spiky-like hair settled on top of its body like normal hair… for a second, the beast looked completely innocent. Even Sakura noticed its kindly look.

_Jimmy…is that its name?_, She wondered, and looked slowly at Dan. _So, you know him…you know this beast, don't you?_

And then, a guard shouted something at the beast. For a while, the beast wanted to ignore the man, but he shook his head. His hair shot back like fire again, looking spiky. His face looked vicious again, the mouth opening wide like a vampire's to unleash a strong roar. The strong muscles reformed on his body, making him firm again.

"N…no!" Dan shouted. "Don't listen to them, Jimmy!"

For a slight moment the word 'Jimmy' made the beast slow down again, but this time he recovered faster, and charged at them. Sakura covered in front of Dan and kicked up, into the beast's neck.

"No..don't hurt him!!!" Dan shouted at her.

"But, he'll kill us!" Sakura said. "He won't die anyway…look how big he is! We're only holding him back to run away!"

"No…"

But the beast recovered easily and, while she was distracted, smacked her hard enough to discharge her into a metal wall. The beast then faced Dan.

"How odd."

Dan looked and saw one of the guards speaking to him in english.

"You call him by Jimmy," he said. "Yet his name is Blanka, and he serves the Shadaloo of Brazil."

"WHAT?!" Dan erupted. "Jimmy, you work for Shadaloo!...so, it's been you who's been causing all those fires in the Amazon! You have electricity…"

The word 'electricity' suddenly caused Blanka to surround himself with the electric aura gain. The electricity sparkled around him, gleaming like his yellow eyes. Dan backed away.

"Jimmy, you are not evil!" Dan said emphatically. "Jimmy……you must fight them! They're controlling you for their own good!"

But Dan's words didn't impact upon Blanka anymore. Blanka unleashed the lightning surrounding his body at him. The jolt of thunder thrashed into Dan, giving his body a jolt so powerful, he wasn't sure he was living now… he couldn't feel the pain of himself crashing through one of the windows, the glass sticking in his back, and he couldn't feel the pain of seeing Sakura do a kick-in on Blanka's face….. He was falling down slowly…

…his eyes closed.

**_[Gouken's Dojo, Japan]_**

_Fifteen years ago…_

_The dojo was quite like its usual self. The windows were opened wide, letting the nice, cool air in. The curtains were drawn, so that the sunlight could make the floor sparkle like emerald. The door of the dojo was opened, visitors coming in every now and then. Standing by the door, on his chair, was Gouken himself. He looked quite young, with his beard only the length of a rice, being nice and smooth._

_Standing in the middle of the dojo was a boy with unlimited vigor… a boy so spirited, training to learn the rare style of Ansatsuken. His name, was Dan Hibiki._

_Standing only a distance away from Dan, was a very little girl, who was observing his every moves._

_"It's not done like that, Dan!" she pointed out, doing the move herself. "You first have to punch straight in, and then rise a little bit with the knuckles exposed…like this, see?.. and then you rise all the way up."_

_"Shut up," Dan said, irritated, and stuck his tongue out at her._

_"Daddy!" the girl said loudly. "Brother Danny is being mean, and he's not doing your Shoryuken right!"_

_"Is that so?" Gouken said. "Well, correct yourself, sir Dan! My daughter is the master of Ansatsuken. She even defeated me!"_

_Gouken laughed and winked at Dan. Dan moved his face back to the girl and gritted his teeth, controlling his anger. He continued to practice._

_After the practice, it was almost sunset._

_"Come, Dan, let's have dinner," Gouken said._

_"Yes, master," Dan said. "Um…master?"_

_"Yes, lad?"_

_"When will you teach me the Hadouken?" Dan asked desperately._

_"Impatience will get you nowhere, Dan!" Gouken said angrily. "How many times have I told you? You must stay to your level for now! If you continue to reveal your desperacy, I will never expose the arts of Ansatsuken to you."_

_Dan grew angry. "But we've been training for two years! You must teach me..!"_

_"Name your reason, Dan," Gouken said calmly._

_"I want to be impulsive to face my enemy," Dan said determinedly._

_"Enemy?" Gouken said. "Just what I wanted least from you to say."_

_"Wh…what?!"_

_"That is right, Dan," Gouken said. "You are completing your training with anger, not skill."_

_"That's not true!" Dan said._

_"You will never be as powerful as you wish, and most likely your enemy will defeat you again, unless he holds back by his pity for your pathetic outrage. I am disappointed in you, Dan."_

_"Be disappointed, I could care no less!!!" Dan shouted so loudly his voice echoed throughout the dojo. "But I will defeat him, and you can never deny that!"_

_"That is enough," Gouken said. "OUT."_

_"What?!"_

_"OUT, I say…you are not worthy to be my apprentice. Never darken this dojo's door ever again. Perish, you fool!"_

_Gouken grabbed him by the collar and carried him to the door, hurling him out into the rainy, gloomy night._

_Before shutting the door, Gouken concluded, "The path that you are going, you might lose some of your deepest friends."_

_Deepest friends…_

.._Do I have a deep friend?_

**[Amazon, Brazil]**

Dan opened his eyes, and could feel his pain reviving. His back was stinging with fury beyond his belief. It was disgustingly cut. But he noticed that the blood wasn't dripping as much as it was going to be. His skin was slightly dark, which he suspected was from the electricity Jimmy had hit him with.

"Ouch..," he moaned.

"Hm..that's odd.."

Dan moved his eyes to Sakura.

"You?"

"Yeah, me," she said. "Don't move, now…you're extremely wounded… those glasses of the window that you fell through were stuck into your back. Oh my gosh, it's so painful to think about it."

"You took the glasses out?" Dan said. "H…how did I survive that fall? And how did you find me?"

"Well, when you fell off the window, I thought you'd be dead for sure," Sakura explained. "So I gave all I got to that beast…and I escaped to a room with a load of explosives…the beast was stupid enough to electrify all of them….caused quite an explosion. In fact, I was like an angel who landed safely away from the corpse of the blown up base."

"D-did Jimmy survive?" Dan asked worriedly.

"Yes, after the explosion, I saw him and some of the other survived men running away."

They both didn't talk for a minute.

"Well, anyway, luckily the current of the river somehow pushed you slightly on shore, so I was able to reach there in time before the current pulled you back in…and um…well you left the river with quite some red."

"Well anyway," she continued, "what is _odd_ is that right before waking up you muttered something like '_Do I have a deep friend_?'"

* * *

**Note**: _Note_ how Sakura's friend, Satsuki, disappeared suddenly in the ray of light. It'll be restated later in the story.

**Next Chapter - Heaven's Judgement**


	7. Heaven's Judgement: Part I

Finally updated on 2/7/04!

  
**CMK Tactican: **Sorry, but this story isn't entirely based on the true storyline ^_^ I know yours is very strictly on the sf line, I read _The Way of the Warrior_. But I really made a lot of alters to the actual story, just to make my own story that has its own meaning… just to put in more excitement ;) You'll be seeing more of Dan and Blanka later on.

**[ S t r e e t F i g h t e r A l p h a (2) ( P a r t 2 ) ]**

**[*, Thailand]**

Sodom began following around Thailand, looking for his victim, Guy. His journey was too much wasted, but he was slowly approaching his destiny. In the middle of his long tour throughout Thailand, he had actually had the chance to warm up his muscles. However, the loss was his own. The man was a sumo wrestler, and a quite powerful one. Sodom continued his belief that this time, he would be able to crush Guy for sure and accomplish his dream of reuniting the Mad Gear.

Through detecting Guy at last, Sodom's labor of walking each day had nearly paid off…

He found Guy just at the place he suspected him to be: near Shadaloo's base of Thailand. The base was incredibly hidden, and Sodom didn't discover it a base until he saw Guy finally ticking the secret of opening an underground tunnel under an iron-made industrial building.

He watched Guy hop inside, and decided to follow him instead of attacking him just now… he wanted to know himself why Shadaloo was so famous in the world. Who is this Vega person?

**[Hong Kong, China]**

"I will still give you the chance to surrender yourself, Vega!" Chunli advised in a loud voice.

They were standing, face-to-face, on the roof of the building , ready to battle there. Vega's jet had been landed right next to him, while he stood, smirking widely, next to it.

"You think I'd do that?" Vega said with a really annoying smirk. "Once my design of my masterpiece… the Psycho Drive… is completed, there will be no one to even threaten me like you….NO ONE.."

"The Psycho Drive, eh?" Chunli repeated. "Well, I don't care what you're planning, but you will reach the end of your line, Vega!"

"You fool, you think that with all these countries against the threat of Shadaloo makes any difference to me?" Vega said calmly, "They have nothing to fight against me! These fools….with the power of destruction…..military equipment, bombs, guns, NOTHING—can stop me! Psycho Power, is invincible!"

"You're wrong there, Vega!" Chunli said determinedly, "And I'll prove it!"

Chunli began to give the soldiers behind her a 'fire' signal. All the soldiers perfected their aim upon Vega and his jet, and began to shoot with all kinds of bullets and cartridges. Vega easily faded away from the spot and appeared where the guns weren't aiming. The soldiers lowered their guns to see with large, astonished eyes, at Vega's power.

"See what I mean?" Vega said, hoping to see them thunderstruck.

"You're pathetic!" Chunli said angrily, taking off her coat, and revealing an odd, rather _exposing_ fighting suit. "I will take you on by myself!"

Chunli dashed towards him. He faded before she could even attack, and faded behinds her.

"BOO!" He shouted, smirking irritatingly. Chunli fearlessly kicked across him but he faded once again.

"Grr!! What is this power? It certainly isn't speed."

"It's not!" Vega claimed, unfading at the front of his plane. "Psycho Power is the answer."

"Fool," Chunli said through gritted teeth, "I'll still beat you!"

And suddenly… a thought came to her mind.

_Gen Dan Satsushu, Chunli… it will come handy to you someday…_

Chunli nodded to herself, and slowly walked a way towards Vega, ready to strike.

"Hmph, fine then," Vega said, "Face the power you fear."

Chunli sprinted towards him, leapt on her hands, and began swinging her legs around, lifting off the ground. 

_That move.., _Vega thought… but before he could come up with another tick, his henchman came up to him. He faded to another place before Chunli could harm him.

"Scared, Vega?" Chunli said, half angry and half smirking.

The henchman whispered something to Vega. He nodded and looked back to Chunli, smirking.

"Perhaps another day, I'll have the opportunity to kill you just like I killed your father—ooo did I mention your father?"

Vega faded in his jet and lifted off before Chunli could respond. For a minute, things seemed too silent to be real.

… and then, an enraged, deafening screech vibrated the streets of Hong Kong.

…

_"What the hell was that, yo?"_

_"Don't know."_

_"Cut! Hu-hu! Feilong, you were still in action!"_

_"Sorry,… just couldn't ignore that noise."_

_"That was something, all right… You can't blame him."_

**[Hidden Shadaloo Base, Thailand]**

A blue flash merged in the pitch-dark chamber. The scientists blinked, unsurprised, and bowed royally to the flash. Vega had just faded into his base.

"Welcome back, sir."

"Had a nice flight?"

"Yes, indeed I did," Vega replied to his workers with a smirk, "Let the jet in. Gate five."

"Yes," a scientist pressed a switch and typed something into the operator.

"I just received message that a red-clothed man has preceded the base?" Vega asked for confirm.

"Ah… yes sir," the scientist said, "but he hasn't done any harm yet. I do not think he can find his way here. He's been taking random passages that are leading him to nowhere."

"Heh…heh…. Pathetic how he could find our base and not find his way here."

"Indeed it is!"

"Open the maze."

"Are you sure that is a good idea, sir?"

A flash of red light shot across the room, carrying a scientist with it. The light crashed angrily in a metal wall, so powerfully that the metal melted easily. This was apparently pointed out by the steam rising from the now burnt-out, dead scientist.

"Ignorance to commands is unwanted," Vega said thoughtfully. "Open the maze up, and let this man find his way here easily."

"Y-yes, sir," another scientist who was operating a computer answered. He pressed a switch and a mechanical sound was heard, that of something really, really heavy rising in the air, fighting gravity at its max.

_Five minutes later…_

"Sir, the man has arrived," a scientist pointed to his computer screen, which was visualizing the view of a camera, showing Guy walking straight on the route that led to the chamber.

"Ah, yes…," Vega smirked wider than before. "Welcome, welcome, mister… _Guy_. I've been trying to ignore you the whole while, but unfortunately… with a little piece of crap behind my back, following me everywhere I went… it was like burden on my brain…. Yes…yes…"

"Glad you even mentioned you have a brain," Guy said. "Let us get to business, shall we?"

[Sodom's View]

Sodom attached his ear to the dark wall and listened… listened very, very closely. He could hardly tell who was talking… but he could remember Guy's voice only. It was difficult to hear, but he could hear it clearly as possible.

_"…while, but unfortunately… with a little piece of crap behind my back, following me everywhere I went… it was like burden on my brain…"_

_"…you have a brain…  
business, shall we?"_

_…_

_"… you idiot…I didn't associate  
… neither command…  
all that racket in Metro City…  
…I only control Shadaloo, not Mad Gear."_

_"… you met Rolento?"_

_"…Mad Gear, but … did he tell you my whereabouts?"_

Although he could hear somewhat, he couldn't make sense out of it. He waited, waited for a long while… but nothing seemed to be happening. Guy and that person—Vega—were going to talk forever if he just stood there.

But no, something did happen. After a while, a crash was heard. Sodom pressed his ears strongly at the wall, trying to listen as hard as he could… he could hear the wind swinging of fists, and several hard blows. The fight had started.

But Sodom couldn't hear the hits for long. He _MUST_ watch the fight. He looked around, but everything was well dark and hidden.

"Damnit… there must be a view around here somewhere. I must know for myself what Shadaloo is."

Sodom raised his arms in front of him and walked around. After a while, his arms hit a wall. He looked around, and saw light shining at him.

"That must be it!"

_"Hey, you!"_

Sodom looked closely towards the light. A group of tall, muscular men stood there. Sodom sprinted towards the light and passed by the men rapidly, turning around and braking.

"Hm… a Japanese samurai, I see," one of the men said.

"More like a wanna-be, you know," another man said, and everyone broke into loud laughters.

Sodom drew the claws in his hands. "Tell me where Vega and Guy are."

"Vega and Guy? Sorry, master Vega is busy. We'll be glad to give you company, though," a man in a black suit replied.

_[30 seconds later]_

"Argggh… ooh… you… take… the hall to the left… and there should be a balcony there that you can see down to the main chamber," the man in the black suit groaned. Sodom smirked at the defeated men, withdrawing his bloody claws, and sprinted down the passage.

He took three sets of small stairs, and easily reached the balcony that the previous man had been talking about. The crashes now heard louder. Sodom looked down to the two men fighting. Guy had already been bleeding from the nose and the left leg, which slowed down his speed now. Vega, on the other hand, was easily fading to random places, sneaking up on Guy and fisting or scratching him.

In no time, a blood-showered Guy collapsed onto the iron ground, as a smirking Vega faded next to him, landing his feet on the ground.

"Y-you… bastard..," Guy screeched angrily, unable to get up. Sodom watched carefully as Vega grasped Guy from the neck.

"Rolento _did_ tell you about this place, right?" Vega said, smirking angrily, "I will take care of him. As for now, I have time to strangle another rat."

Vega choked Guy harder. Sodom placed his hands on the banister and looked down very attentively as he observed Vega. Vega's eyes seemed to be turning somewhat blue… what was this power? How could a man disappear and appear at a different place? It was, of course, not speed. This was some dangerous power that is evil itself.

After a long while, Vega loosened his hand and let go his grasp on Guy's neck. Amazingly, Guy seemed to be still living… but in bad shape.

"That is a good spirit, I haven't strangled someone this long without seeing him die," Vega said proudly. "I might as well absorb your power and store it in my psycho drive!!!"

Vega laughed deafeningly… very loudly. His eyes turned madly blue. After a minute, still laughing, Vega positioned his hand on Guy's head, and the hand turned psychic blue. A blue aura surrounded both of them, but it was Guy that was screaming with pain, as Vega laughed.

_So… this is Vega_, Sodom thought worriedly. _The leader of Shadaloo, who possesses a lethal power._

Seeing Guy losing like that seemed to somewhat annoy Sodom. Why was he being annoyed?

"You… die… now!" Vega howled, still absorbing tremendous amount of energy from Guy.

"……STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The blue aura around Vega and Guy vanished. Vega's blue eyes returned to normal. He looked up at the balcony, and stared at Sodom.

"Hm…. And you are?" Vega asked, turning his stare into a glare.

Sodom leaped off from the balcony, drawing his claws and aiming for Vega, whom faded just in time a distant away from both of them.

"You bastard… you interrupted my energy transfer," Vega shrieked, looking enraged.

"The time has come that I must side with my former enemy," Sodom announced. "In all the clocks' witness, I've never cared about good or evil. I joined the Mad Gear not for money, not for power, but for becoming an experienced samurai. I never cared about all the drugs that the Mad Gear dealed with, or all bank robberies they ticked. I only sided with them because I wanted to become powerful… after Guy, Cody, and the mayor destroyed the Mad Gear, I still wanted to stay in. I remembered Guy in his fleeting speed, with his style for justice. I ask Rolento where Guy is, and follow Guy all the way here… only because I wanted to battle him, more like an enemy like he always was to me. But I really did it for the battling experience... to become one more step towards becoming invincible. However, now… I've realized the stream between good and evil. I always thought that people aren't naturally evil… but you… you're just pure evil, and that's only because of that power you possess."

"Hehh… heh…" Vega began from small sniggers to loud, thrilling laughs. Strangely, he didn't quiet down.

"Sodom, you?" Guy asked, lying on the floor, while Vega was still laughing louder than ever.

"Don't think I'm here to save your _neck_," Sodom said angrily, "this is just my own sense of justice."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!" electricity sparkled around the room, as Vega roared with laughter. The sparks surrounded him, piling up in his large palm.

"Sodom, be careful!" Guy warned. "He's making a—"

"—fireball, I know…. I've gone through this before."

The electrical energy endlessly collected in Vega's enormous hand…. It was even being _compressed_, so that more space could be made for the dynamic energy. Vega still laughed, his eyes turning blue once again… The computers that were being operated by the scientists exploded… which apparently made no difference to Vega. Sodom created a stance with his claws, making a cross with them in front of his face.

"PREPARE…… TO DIE!"

Vega unleashed the energy. All that could be seen was a giant flash.

**[End of Part I; Heaven's Judgement]**


	8. Heaven's Judgement: Part II

**[ S t r e e t F i g h t e r A l p h a (2) ( P a r t 2 ) ]**

** -------------------~-~~-~~-~~-~~-~~-~-~--~-~-~-~-~-~--~-~-~--~--~--~-------[**

**"**

Fire. Flame. Burning... It is this element that begins instant torment. Even a candle's melted wax is painful. When I cross my finger through a candle's flame… nothing happens. I don't feel pain. My finger, it is not ignited… why? The world of flame is powerful. Powerful indeed. As for naming this world, let's call it the 'Flame world', shall we? The fire's greatest source of energy is heat. Its core is similar to our Earth's core… Feverous… igneous… whatever you want to call it. So, where does heat come from? The pure way to establish heat is by friction. In a combat, numerous frictions occur. The friction of you ripping your fists through someone's soul, or the friction of a razor's cut. But there is always heat produced by regulating energy. The longer you battle, the more heat is involved.

Fire is neutral… it isn't your enemy. It isn't your friend. It is a tool used against anyone the user desires. In order to control fire, you have to _use_ it, and _be_ it. Be fire yourself. Mimic it completely… like the way it hurts when you touch it. The way mankind fears it. In this way, others should be damaged by touching you. They should fear you. That is how you become fire itself. And the only way to do that is to befriend fire. Those who attract fire deeply become obsessed… with invincible, unlimited power. Through these memories of fire… I have collected much data of people that befriend fire all over the world… it is not because they possess the demon that rages for death. It is only for the ambition for mastery! It is that deep _feeling_ that you want to win no matter what! We all have had those desires… it is just that some people get so involved, they fear nothing. Not even water… fire's only weakness.

I look from afar.. like the fate of this planet… the dream of this planet. I know everything. What will happen in the future… the destiny of people… I look at those that have actually allied fire. All of them are, in a type, evil. I began from the evolution of our planet… even in animals, I see that ambition to control and fight fire. When humans came, I looked much specifically. I divided these humans by their occupations, due to their arguable quantity. I looked at everything… swordsmen, knights, gangsters, officers... but what I really pursuit were street fighters, whom gambled with fire much exceedingly than any others.

Two types of evil in fire exist. First, those who kill without mercy, refuse aid, training so gravely that they are considered beyond a human's restrictions. Second, those who engaged in building their defenses as much as possible, take control of all-powerful powers that are earned only by sacrifices… they, too, kill without mercy, but side with pure evil, unlike the neutral first section.

As the second evil absorbs more and more power, it becomes mad with it. When beyond intensity, this mad power could control the entire Flame world!

The flame world has much, much more longer time to burn than this planet has to live… how… _how_… can we change that? Is destroying Vega the only way? The lifeline of this world is not going to extend much longer. If Shadaloo continues to mount its power, a weapon so powerful will be built… that… the…….. entire planet will be destroyed. But the flame world will continue to burn. That, is the problem. That is the problem.

Pio, Ugo… go save those two that are battling evil as friends instead of enemies in the _Memories of Earth_… go …

**"**

** -----------~-~~-~~-~~-~-------------~-~~-~~-~~-~~-~~-~~-~~-~~-~-----------------]**

**[Memories of Earth, Earth's core]**

"They fought well," Pio commented with pleasure, "don't you think?"

"Yes, but we must continue our mission," Ugo said, taking a smoke from his cigarette, "even we could end up dying. This is a dangerous task, Pio. We'll have to take it seriously, okay?"

"This is too difficult, Ugo," Pio whined, dropping his cigarette as he shivered with both cold and fear… the room was strangely cold… in the earth's core, how could you expect it to be cold? Looking down at the wasted cigarette, Pio stepped on it, sighing, and looking back up at the circular, pillar-supported room. "There was a time crash the last time they did it, remember? I think it was Adro."

"Yes, it was Adro," Ugo said, "The crash was so bad, the time couldn't recognize him in existence… so he… just disappeared. Like he never existed." Ugo began to shiver as well, and let his cigarette go. "Hate to admit it, but I'm scared."

"It's a pity we can't battle Vega."

Pio grabbed a device from his packet, and began operating it. Ugo grabbed another cigarette and drew a lighter, which was difficult to light in the freezing room. In the end, Ugo kept flicking his lighter, not waiting for it to light at all. After five minutes, Pio succeeded in working the device and a bright flash illuminated the room, and disappeared in the blink of an eye. In another two minutes, Pio attempted once again, and the flash remained for five seconds, and disappeared once again. The third time, after a half minute, the flash remained for three seconds, but did not disappear. This time, there were rays of colorful light shooting out of the device into random directions, all around the room.

"Good job… wow, three tries. That was quick," Ugo said.

"I'm the master," Pio said, still seriously. "Give me the orb she gave us, with all the data of that time."

Ugo searched through his pocket and withdrew an incredibly white-glowing orb, and handed it to Pio. The orb seemed to be sparking with electrical currents.

"What's this?" Pio asked.

"It probably repels cold," Ugo suggested. "It wasn't going berserk like that in my pocket."

"Okay," Pio said. He placed the orb onto the device, and stepped back from his own hand, waiting for a reaction. There wasn't much to see; the device was easily reading the orb like normal.

"Wow, she's really a genius, isn't she?" Pio said, exhausted with fear. "Usually at times like this you expect something bad to happen… like an explosion."

"Let's be grateful and not think of that at this time," Ugo said, also shivering with fear instead of cold this time. After several seconds, both the device and the orb glowed energetically. The glowing intensified, and soon filled the entire room. Pio and Ugo both closed their eyes. And then.... there was no sound for a few seconds. They opened their eyes, and suddenly, a large sound of an odd explosion occurred… but there was no explosion. The light instantly flashed around the room…..

[Five Minutes Later]

"Pio, get up!"

Pio opened his eyes. His vision was very blurry, as he looked up at the Ugo standing above him, grinning widely.

"Hah! We made it, you dumbo!" he said happily. "I woke up a minute before you!"

"Yeah well, I wish we didn't have to faint while we do this," Pio sighed. "Did we make it?"

He looked around the room. This was not the same room that they were in before. This time, it was very difficult to see… the room was filled with a blue light, which made it difficult to see. All the six surfaces, including the walls, the ceiling, and the floor, were made of metal. There was a balcony above them. It was still, however, cold. Pio looked around more closely. There were three people in the room, who were all frozen, as in still… they seemed to be stuck in the middle of their actions. One man was grinning very widely, wearing all-red clothes and a red cap. He had his hand extended outwards, that seemed to be shooting something dark blue, which was easily seen compared to the other lighter-blue atmosphere of the room…. The dark blue light was aiming for a man who seemed to be using claws for weapons, dressed like a samurai. The third man was on the floor, also wearing red clothes… this man seemed to be wounded quite cruelly.

..It was Vega, Sodom, and Guy. Not a single object in the room, not a single _chip_ in the room seemed to be moving besides Pio and Ugo. They didn't even seem to be _able_ to move…

"This, my friend, is what you call a perfect time freeze," Pio concluded to Ugo, "learn how to do it, and you'll hopefully be a master like me."

"Hate to admit it, but you're pretty good at this," Ugo said, grinning. "Let's hurry up. We don't want to screw with anything. We only do what we were told."

"Yes, yes," Pio said.

Pio walked over to the still figure of Sodom, and drew the orb that he used before to operate the device. This time, he connected the orb to Sodom's body.

"Huh? What's that you're doing?" Ugo asked. "I didn't know we were supposed to use the orb for them too…"

"The orb contains data of very powerful defense," Pio explained, as the orb now glowed with Sodom's body lightly, "as soon as the time continues, their bodies will be protected greatly by that … blast."

"I see," Ugo said thoughtfully, " … that's a very powerful blast. Not even _she_ could be able to defend herself against that."

"Don't judge the master lightly," Pio said, "I've seen her fight. Her powers are good enough to stand a chance."

"Perhaps," Ugo sighed. The light from the orb and Sodom faded away, which told them the object was done. Pio moved over to Guy on the floor, and this time connected the orb to him. Once again, the orb glowed along with Guy's body.

After the orb stopped glowing, and Guy's body turned back to normal, Pio stood back up and nodded to Ugo, whom nodded back. Pio once again operated the device. He held it above his head.

"Grab on to my hand or you won't make it back with me," he instructed to Ugo, whom hastily did so and nodded once again. Pio sighed, looking up at the device.

"_Exit!!_"

They both disappeared.

**[Hidden Shadaloo Base, Thailand]**

"PREPARE…… TO DIE!"

Vega unleashed the energy. All that could be seen was a giant flash.

The blast was certainly powerful. Almost being equal to the explosion of twenty tons of TNT, the dynamic energy was even too powerful for Vega to survive! However… Vega had a blue aura around his body which was protecting him somehow from the explosion. Sodom was blasted right into an iron wall, which quickly melted… 

"In-incredible!" Sodom shrieked, as he slipped down from the iron wall. He looked at his hands, at his body… everything… completely safe. He looked worriedly for Guy, and spotted him also bouncing off of a melting wall… safe as ever. Guy, too, seemed to be shocked.

The smoke didn't feel like clearing up soon… could Vega see them through that mass of smoke? Sodom sprinted towards Guy, helping him up. Guy was still bleeding, but those were the wounds he had before…

"How… did we survive?" Guy asked. "What is this?"

"I don't know," Sodom sighed. He jumped away from Guy, and began spinning around fleetingly with his claws, like a whirlwind, repelling the smoke away.

Vega's face emerged from the smoke, not as delighted as it usually was… he was wearing a gloomy, confused look. "Intriguing… so… before I waste you corpses, kind answer how you defended yourselves against that. If only there was no smoke, so I could really see what you did…"

"Hell, even if I knew I wouldn't tell you, it's fun to have a crackhead cry with fury," Sodom replied delightedly, making yet another stance with his claws. Guy was strong enough to get on his feet now, and he also managed a stance.

"Even if I'm hurt, I can always use my last energy to take you with me, Vega!" Guy said, looking very tired.

"Heh, like you can do that," Vega replied, trying to smirk.

"Don't take it as a joke… the final technique of the Bushin style is used only by sacrificing your life… it's undodgeable… although I want to live long enough to kick more asses in Metro City, I think that kiddy playing time is over."

"What are you talking about, Guy?!" Sodom shouted. "I fought to save you! You can't just do this."

"Stay back," Guy warned. "Let's go, Vega."

He made a very strange technique, overlapping his left leg with his right leg 90 degrees, along with his right fist. Vega continued to smirk, and turned slightly angry.

"Yeah?" he said. "Well, we'll see you fight against _this_!"

Vega, too, showed a sign of getting ready, as he floated in the air with his arms crossed. "PSYCHO—"

_SLING... _

_TICK... TICK… BANG!!!!!!_

A huge burst of energy collided with Vega, sending him into the air, high above. With the giant explosion that had melted the ceiling almost completely, and Vega now crashing into it, there was no ceiling left… all that could be seen now was the abandoned factory building up above, which too, looked as if it had been damaged intensely.

"Rose!" Guy shrieked, unbalancing from his stance.

Rose was floating in the air, just like Vega did… she didn't look happy, nor sad. But she did look slightly angry… as she charged up another blast. Vega didn't appear for several long, tense seconds… but when he did, it was obvious… The rocks above shot away in different directions, as the leader of Shadaloo floated down speedily to the ground, a distance away from Rose, Guy, and Sodom.

_[ You… ? ]_

_[ Me, yes. ]_

…

_[ you're alive… hm… ]_

_[ fire can't always kill fire, Vega. ]_

"What's with the silence?" Sodom asked angrily, stepping forward. "Guy, do you know her? Rose, is that her name? Huh?"

"Stand back," Guy warned, grabbing Sodom by the arm and fleeting by as Vega slammed into Rose. In only a matter of seconds was the area already full of dust and smoke… with very violent, deafening sounds and hints of blue energy flying around.

"This is insane!" Sodom shouted, Guy hardly being able to hear him, as an energy ball just whizzed above their head, leaving them paralyzed and yet safe. "In the middle of Thailand?! Where the hell are the cops?"

Instead of the smoke deceasing, it just began to increase… Guy and Sodom coughed loudly, but their sounds were nothing compared to the crashes they were hearing. And in no time, the factory building above them also seemed to be collapsing. But it wasn't because of Rose and Vega fighting : some jets above were dropping bombs.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Sodom shouted. "THE COPS ARE TRYING TO KILL US ALL?"

Sodom looked towards Guy, who also seemed to be confused, but wasn't complaining, unlike him. Some of the debris of the fallen building were falling below, showering down on them. But it seemed that Vega and Rose didn't even seem to care, wherever they were fighting. The dust did clear up, but it was most likely because of the wind of the rocks that were falling down. Guy slipped behind a large hole that was made in the wall, followed by Sodom.

"This is too much..," Guy said. "Who is in those planes?"

The bombing of the jets had stopped the moment the building had begun to fall. Was that their mission, to make the building fall? But the loud crashes and supreme energy kept going on frequently… they were even faster than their echoes!

_[ powerful… yes… once I finish with you, I can use your powers and store it in as… hehe… you know… ]_

_[ unfortunately, that shall not happen…]_

Through the loud crashing noises, they could now hear police sirens. However, it seemed unlikely that the police would be able to advance any further, with the violent fighting going on.

"Let's climb to the top and wait," Guy suggested.

"But how?" Sodom asked. "This place is completely destroyed. The way up there is pretty long. We can't _fly_ like those two can."

"I know…," Guy said gloomily, "if only I could have ended this…  
"why did you decide to help me?"

Sodom blinked confusedly. "What are you saying? If I didn't help you, then there would be _no_ one to live on this planet the way Vega's heading to."

"I know," Guy sighed.

Rose and Vega continued fighting… and then, for about a minute, only the sound of flying and sprinting around were made… and then the crashes continued as usual. It was endless. After another minute, a few more crashes occurred. These crashes, however, were something else besides the combat.

"Could it be the cops?" Guy suggested.

"May… be… but not even the cops can stop Vega. He's too powerful."

Guy began to crawl out of the hole, Sodom behind him. Sodom didn't know what Guy was up to now, but he knew that he would only be safe with Guy on his side, for now.. and then, another few of those contrasting crashes occurred, and more rock pieces showered the area.. After the cloud of smoke perished, a figure of a man shadowed their eyes.

..it was Rolento.

"You?" Sodom said, trying to look angry. But this was not time to start anger… he had to be patient.

"Yes, me," Rolento said. "Is this Vega's place? … those noises… who's that fighting with him?"

"Dunno, a girl named Rose," Sodom said.

"Vega's pretty raged at you, he better not spot you here," Guy warned.

"I have my jet over there," Rolento pointed just a distance away, revealing a jet that they didn't realize was there before..

"Hmm?" Sodom said worriedly. "What about those sirens?"

"Cops, of course," Rolento replied, "they've got the area cornered. They almost shot my jet down, but I just landed in here. It's pretty deep down here, so they can't do anything about it. They'll need a helicopter or something to get in here. But before that, we must leave."

"Why would the cops want to shoot you down?" Sodom asked.

"Why wouldn't they?" Rolento said, gripping the stick that he always held in his hand. "I'm not a legal military commander. I've got an illegal army, have much weapons, and have rows of jets. Wouldn't they want to shoot me down?"

Sodom nodded, but didn't understand why Rolento was being so calm. Why would he want to help him now, and not want revenge for the time before?

"Okay, let's get out of here," Guy said anxiously, looking at the energy getting louder. "I think this place is going to explode with all this racket. I don't even know how we survived the last explosion."

The three of them hurried towards the jet. Two soldiers hopped out, waiting to greet Rolento, who grinned at their loyalty. The soldiers walked towards them, they rushed towards them, trying to get there as fast as possible…

… but it seemed that the clock had just struck doomsday. A powerful red-and-blue energy blast shot at their only jet. So, what else is left to describe an exploding jet?

"…."

Guy, Rolento, and Sodom stopped. This was the End. But it seemed Vega was too busy battling Rose than attempting to kill them quicker.

_[ So… where have you been hiding all these years? You didn't even follow the Street Fighter Tournament to find me.. ]_

_[ … ]_

_[ Come on, answer me… hehe… too busy fighting to talk? ]_

_[ Don't take me as a weakling, Vega… ]_

_[ … don't forget, Rose… I'm the reason you have that psycho power. I taught you to control it… you're practically nothing without it. ]_

_[ … the flame world can always burn itself, you know. ]_

"PSSSYYYYCHOOO—"

Rose charged another blast, which caused Vega to fade a distance away, canceling his move.

_[ Why, Vega? Why did you leave us? ]_

_[ because my powers were far beyond your limitations, fools…you were simple babies to me. ]_

Vega charged up a powerful energy blast, struck it in the ground, causing several electrical strips to crack through different paths, surrounding Rose, and exploding. The vigor was very powerful, sending Rose high in the air.

"Can you read me? Can YOU?!" Rolento screamed through his radio.

_Yes, sir, loud and clear._

"Okay, send squad number fifty two with a jet pronto," Rolento instructed.

_Affirmative, sir Rolento._

"It'll take a while…," Rolento sighed, shutting off his radio.

"How do they know where you are?" Guy asked.

Rolento drew a small chip from his pocket, "my army can detect this chip… and since this is in my pocket… hehe… you get the idea."

"Oh."

"PSYCHO—" both Vega and Rose shouted at once. And in the other second, Vega was binded by a magical-looking rope, created by Rose.

"LIGHT," Rose yelled, "Pio, Ugo!"

Two young-looking boys appeared at the side of Rose.

"Transfer!"

Vega struggled to unbind himself, however the rope seemed pretty strong… meanwhile, the two boys shot what look like glowing-white energy into Rose's hand. It collected, and collected, and finally, fired off into Vega's chest.

"kkkk….ugh…GZAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

_[ Y…you… ]_

_[ Good-bye, Vega. ]_

_[ Don't think I'm finished just yet………]_

Vega collided with a rocky wall, and then another avalanche of large, enormous rocks toppled the area, while two or three explosions occurred sequentially. The two boys who were standing next to Rose nodded to her. She turned to both of them. The cops above seemed to be taking action by now, all of them jumping down the rocks that were now making a mountain all the way to the top, easily able to climb.

"Hurry, go—if he comes back now," Rose said quickly. "… we can't afford to lose three Elite Psychic Members at once. It's too risky."

The two boys nodded, and disappeared.

"SHIT, the cops are coming!" Rolento shouted angrily, as Guy rushed towards Rose and Sodom looked around confusedly. "I'm innocent, I tell ye!"

"Tell that to the judge," one of the cops came towards Rolento and Sodom. "Extend those lovely hands, please, gentlemen."

"Errr!" Sodom shouted, now realizing the cops. "Hey, I'm not in this! I'm fighting crime!"

"Yeah, what he said!" Rolento shouted.

"Shut up," the officer said, "get those two over there."

The officer pointed to Guy and Rose.

"See you later, all!" Rolento said hastily, smacking his stick on the officer's head and hurrying up the rocks.

"H-hey, wait for me!" Sodom shouted, following Rolento, who was now throwing bombs behind him to lose the officers. "AHHH!!"

Meanwhile, Rose was still staring towards the direction where Vega had just crashed. Could he be dead?

"Rose, are you okay?" Guy asked. "It looks like we have more time to talk now, than last time.. our second meeting was rather quick, don't you think? Sorry, I don't keep track of the times… hehe….—!!! oops… did I see more time? I meant… wow… the cops are here."

"You two stay here while we get the other two," a cop told them, while the others hurried by with guns, up the rocks.

"You're a nice person, Guy," Rose commented. "But it looks like I'll have to go now… all this mess. Bye."

"Hey, not now!" Guy said angrily. "What about me?!"

"You're not going anywhere, and neither are you," the cop said, overhearing their conversation.

Rose placed the tip of her finger on Guy's forehead. His body flashed, and he suddenly disappeared.

"H-huh?!" the cop was alarmed. "WHAT THE HELL?!?! What the hell are you?!?!"

Rose, herself, disappeared, leaving the cop all by himself.

**[The Open Streets, Thailand]**

Guy reappeared just ten feet above the ground.

"H—hey!!" he fell.

He looked around. He could see smoke from behind a few buildings… very big smoke. And the clouds above already seemed to be using the smoke to add to themselves, as he observed. That smoke must be coming from the factory… so he wasn't very far away from it. He looked around. No one seemed to have noticed him. There were no cops around.

_Hm…. That was weird… damn you, Rose. What is with you and Vega?_

"So, you leaving?"

Guy swung around. There was no one there. He turned to an alley, and spotted a large pile of small car-tires. Behind those tires, he analyzed Rolento and Sodom, standing in front of a jet.

"Yeah, I guess so," Rolento said. "It was tough to make a life without Mad Gear, but I did it. I think you should continue with your life as well, Sodom."

"So… you left the Mad Gear and created a military of your own?" Sodom wondered. "Amazing."

"Although it's still not good to the society, it's my art," Rolento sighed, ".. when I was a kid, I couldn't make anything out of myself. Doing evil tasks is all I'm good at. It's my idea of utopia, is all… However, I still appreciate Guy's and Cody's opinions. I think I'm going to look for Cody now… perhaps, by fighting him, I will find out how to become a better fighter."

"Didn't you get enough experience by fighting Guy?" Sodom asked.

"Yes, Guy is indeed an excellent fighter, even if he is more on my enemy side," Rolento said. "When I saw Guy last time, just after bombarding the factory building, I felt almost guilty for being evil… looking at his pride, I wanted to be like him. Like join him. He's really got style, you know."

"Yes, he does," Sodom said. "Very spirited… however, I think I'll go to Japan and fight more… sumo wrestlers."

"Hehe, need a lift?" Rolento asked, waving his hand to his jet, which was being controlled by a few pilot soldiers.

"Yeah… sure," Sodom said. "I think I'll stick with ya for some time."

"So, what do you say?" Rolento asked.

"To what?"

"… well.."

"Yes, let me join your army, please!" Sodom pleaded happily.

"That's the spirit," Rolento patted Sodom. "With us two as top commanders, nothing can stop us. Me, the elite soldier and you—the master of blades."

They both hopped in their jet, and jetted off. Guy smirked up at the jet. "At least they made up…"

**[ E n d o f S t r e e t F i g h t e r A l p h a (2) ( P a r t 2 ) ]**

**Note**: Yes, this _ does_ mean that this is the last chapter of Street of Alpha 2. The next chapters are on Street Fighter Alpha 3. Prepare for LOADS of excitement, what with all the Shadaloo screw ups and some sequels to previous chapters.


	9. Shadaloo's Mission: Battles Plotted!

Note: From here on, It is strongly suggested you scan every little sentence, for the plots of Street Fighter Alpha 3 are connected to each other in some way. Good luck reading!

** [ S t r e e t F i g h t e r A l p h a 3 ( P a r t 3) ]**

** [Italy]**

"Madam? Rose?"

"Yes, Ugo?"

Rose was resting after her long fight with Vega. But something seemed to be troubling her.

"Do you feel it too, Ugo?" Rose asked her little soldier.

"Yes, I do," Ugo said. "Psycho power is so restrict less."

"That is why, my friend, Vega must be stopped," Rose said warmly.

"So it's true!" Ugo confirmed. "He's still alive, isn't he?"

"Yes, I can feel his dark ki," Rose said. "It is a pity I did not get rid of him."

"Your powers are beyond humanity, Madam," said Ugo. "You cannot lose to Vega. Your powers are celestial."

"That is not true, Ugo," Rose corrected him, "My powers are just the weak side of Vega. I am weak. But I have one thing Vega does not have: to sacrifice my life to kill him. Vega fears death. And that is his weakness."

"You are right, Madam."

**[Shadaloo Base, Japan]**

"Arrghh…"

"Please be calm, my lord. I cannot cure you if you struggle."

"I don't need you!"

A blue spark waved around the room, and sent the medic breaking through the ceiling and flying to the sky as he burned to crisp like a meteor. Then, the door opened, and a lady walked in.

"What do you want?" Vega said.

"Nothing, I was just wondering about the noise," the lady responded calmly. Vega seemed to be angry, but he easily overcame it.

"Never mind that," he said, "I have a mission for you, Juni. _You_—" Vega pointed at one of his henchmen "—go call Balrog and Mike."

"Yes, master," the henchman walked out of the chamber.

"You were saying, sir?" Juni said.

"Ah, yes," Vega rested his eyes on Juni. "I am interested in a man."

"A man, sir?"

"Yes, a young warrior…"

_After Rose had injured Vega terribly, his soldiers, including Bison and Sagat, brought him to their safe base in Japan on a jet. On the way, Vega spotted a strong ki, and pointed out to his soldiers to look beneath. As he watched, Vega saw a humongous amount of blue energy. Soon enough, the blue energy turned orange, and then red._

_"What is this… this energy… this ki?" Vega asked._

_"I do not know sir," one of his soldiers said. "Should we land?"_

_"… No. Just drop altitude."_

_"Yes, Master."_

_As the jet descended a distance away from the surface, the energy grew larger. What Vega saw was a warrior dressed in a standard karate gi, creating a red fireball that was powering up madly between his hands._

What a guy,_ Vega thought. _His hands are burning from the energy, and yet he won't release it. He's powering it up intensely.

_"Who is he?" Vega asked._

_"That… is…," Sagat hesitated._

_"Yes, Sagat?" Vega asked calmly._

_"Ryu. The man who defeated me in the Street Fighter World Tournament."_

_"I see, so that's the guy who kicked your ass," Bison said. "He looks pretty strong but I could easily deal with him."_

_"Shut the hell up, Bison!!!!" Sagat shouted. "He is not a normal fighter… he is… the master… he is…"_

_"Ryu, eh?" Vega said. "We'll have to put our sight on him now. If he defeated Sagat, he is definitely not normal."_

….

"I see, sir," Juni said. "So you are interested in this man Ryu?"

"Yes, keep track of him," Vega said. "He is a traveling street fighter, but he should be easy to track based on the data of the world tournament. Also, wherever you feel an immense amount of ki, follow it."

"Understood, sir," Juni said. "I will follow the Street Fighter champion Ryu and take notes of him."

Juni walked out, and after a minute the door opened once again. Balrog and Bison stepped in.

"Good to see you men," Vega said hastily, "proceed. I have missions for both of you."

"My claws thirst for blood, Vega… give me a good one...," Balrog said, sitting down. "Give me a beautiful girl…!"

"Patience, Balrog, and your desires won't be in vain," Vega said. "Now…."

He looked at both of his men with pride, and continued. "Balrog, I shall begin with you. Your mission is to find Cammy, alive."

"Cammy?" Balrog asked. "That girl….?"

"Yes, that same girl," Vega confirmed. "She is to be my next host. I will need her for my use. If, however, I find a stronger person… there will be no reason for Cammy and you can terminate her."

Vega's eyes shimmered as he wondered about Ryu. _If that man is mine… no reason for Cammy… no reason for Rose… terminate them at once… yes, that will make things a lot easier! Killing is easier than knocking them down so that you can use them._

"Beautiful women… yes!" Balrog said after much thinking. "I shall take the job, Vega."

"Excellent," Vega said. "You may begin."

"Affirmative," Balrog faded away. Only Bison was left now.

"As for you, Mike, your job is simple and quick," Vega said.

"Yes?" Bison said.

"Annihilate Birdie."

"Birdie? Our new member?" Bison asked.

"Indeed," Vega said.

"Shall I be informed of the reason?" Bison questioned.

"Simple," Vega said, "he is a traitor."

"May I ask how?"

"Heh, you sure ask a lot of questions you little bastard."

Bison's eyes glowed with anger, but he ignored it.

"Okay, fine, I'll tell you," Vega said, "he was not interested in joining Shadaloo. He is interested in the Psycho Drive."

"Enough said," Bison stood up. "He shall be annihilated."

"Perfect."

**[Several days later, England]**

Balrog rested onto the stairs of a deserted alley. He took off his mask and stared into his mirror, cleaned up, polished and sharpened his claws, and took a break for a while.

_Cammy, that girl… sometimes I think Vega is just too harsh. Is he using me also?_

Balrog gazed down the long alley, and saw a sparkling red light. It seemed to be coming his way. Balrog put on his mask, and looked away. Slowly, however, his concerns were growing for the light. When he looked at it once more, the light was there no longer, but a woman dressed in an odd fashion. He tried to show no interest in her. As she walked past his area, she looked at him without turning her face to him. Their eyes met, although Balrog was wearing his mask. A few steps later, the woman stopped.

Without looking back, she spoke, "You seem to be familiar."

Balrog gazed down and wondered who she was. "You are…?"

"Rose, of Italy," the woman said. "Are you not the Spanish bullfighter… Balrog?"

"That is correct."

"I have seen you," Rose, the woman, continued. "Vega's…. "

"I am one of Vega's top henchmen," Balrog completed. "You are definitely Rose… yes… I have heard of you from Vega quite a few times. But that ignorant bastard never tells me anything."

"I have no personal grudge against you," Rose said, "but this may be true between you and me. You dislike Vega. No, you _hate_ him. But according to our positions, we should be enemies. However, I have nothing to do with you, and fighting you will earn me nothing. I do not even have to ask you where Vega is. I will find him my way. My powers."

"Why are you after Vega?" Balrog asked.

"I am sorry, but it is a very long story, it is best if you do not know," Rose said.

It was a very mysterious talk.. Balrog sitting on the leaking stairs, Rose standing there facing him with her back, and a feeling of black clouds in the sky that was barely visible through the narrow, deserted alley. Both Balrog and Rose seemed to be thinking about something, but they kept it hidden.

"You are here for a mission, perhaps?" Rose asked, after a quiet minute.

"Affirmative," Balrog said. "I am seeking for a beautiful woman that Vega desires to use."

"Why a woman?" Rose asked.

"It is not any woman, it is a certain woman that I am searching for, who may prove dangerous for Shadaloo if her memory returns," Balrog said. "Although I should not be telling you, it does me no harm to do so."

"Does she have a name?" Rose asked again.

Balrog stood up. "Her name is of no concern for you…. Dark hours are being looked forward to. The dark wind reveals it all. I must proceed. Farewell."

And in an instant, Balrog faded away. He was pretty fast for a man who could not just teleport by using psycho powers. Rose stood there for a while, and looked up at the black clouds. A blue lightning sparked. Then a yellow one..

"The black clouds, hmm?" Rose said. "Intriguing. You are up to no good, Vega."

**[Destroyed Base, Thailand]**

Bison walked to the debris, and spotted a number of cops and cars and sirens around it. They were definitely investigating what had happened. And it seemed, by listening to them and news reports, that they found out this was a former Shadaloo Base.

_But I wonder where Birdie is…_

Behind him, Bison heard someone speaking Thailand obviously to him. Bison looked and spotted a policeman standing behind him. He seemed to have realized that he was English.

"Do you have an identity? What are you doing here? You are beyond the police boundaries."

"I… uh… am from the FBI!" Bison said quickly. "I came here to investigate."

"Oh, shut the hell up you thug," the cop said, "there is no FBI in Thailand. We'll have to check you out, man."

"Hell no you won't!" Bison jabbed him hard enough to make him crash into a column of debris. The other cops drew their guns and pointed it at him. "Oh, bother… now this junk."

As the bullets gattled at him, he began to make a run for it. But the cops chased him. It was no use: the cars were chasing him as well. After a long run of twists and turns and buzzing confusion into the city dwellers, Bison seemed to have lost them, and bumped into a very heavy person that knocked him down instead of him being knocked down. He looked up, and saw just the man he was looking for—Birdie.

"You?"

"Bison, what the hell happened to the base?" Birdie asked.

"What are you doing here? I was looking for you," Bison said.

"I was asking what happened to the base," Birdie repeated.

Bison looked around. He was in a street just to the right of where the abandoned base was. Most of the cops seemed to have gone to look for him, and the remaining cops didn't see him since he was so far away from them. It was obvious that Birdie was trying to find a way to get to the base as well to see what happened.

"Well?" Birdie said.

"Heh, you're such a selfish ass," Bison said, smirking. "I don't even have to answer you! My mission is to kill you."

"Kill me?" Birdie said. He was confused, but then his confusion changed to a giant laugh that might have supposedly reached the cops. But they were too far away. "You are an idiot, Bison. You don't even come in handy before you die."

Birdie tightened his hand and wrapped a chain around his knuckles and front fist.

"So you were sent by Vega, eh?" Birdie said. "I knew Vega wasn't interested in me anyway, despite him being amazed at my huge size."

"He would have made you an elite if you didn't go screwing at his psycho drive, you dumb idiot!" Bison shouted.

Birdie paused, and thought back for a minute. _Wait_, He thought. _I remember now! Those glowing eyes… it was Vega who was looking at me while I was analyzing the drive. So he knew… what a sneaky bastard._

"I see," Birdie said. "Well… might as well get you over with. Come on."

Bison ran straight for him and jabbed at his ribs, but he felt nothing, and grasped him by the neck, and threw him a distance away. "Little shrimp!"

Bison stood up, and once again jabbed at his ribs with his left arm, but Birdie caught it this time. Bison kneed at him with his left leg, and he caught it with his other hand. "Heh!" Bison smirked, and leaped up as high as he could, vibrating as much strength as he could straight into Birdie's face. Birdie withdrew a distance away, but didn't fall.

"You fool, never disable both your arms at the same time," Bison said.

"You asshole!" Birdie grabbed a street light, and began swinging it at Bison. Bison ducked and dodged, but Birdie seemed to be much quicker than he was. It was even too difficult to catch and break it. In the end, Bison got hit in the knee, and then straight in the chest, which pushed him into the air.

"That's not all!" Birdie yelled, as he thrust a long chain at Bison and expertly wrapped him as he fell to the ground. Now that Bison was captured, Birdie began swinging the chain around, and crashed him into buildings and cars, and back to the ground. When he suspected this was enough for him, he walked towards him and grabbed him by the collar, forcefully punching him in the face once, and then once more up the chin, which made him fly up ten feet in the air. Before Bison fell back to the ground, Birdie leaped and grabbed him in mid-air, striking him to the ground.

Birdie loosened the chains, spat on him, and walked away. But behind him, he heard Bison getting up once again.

"Is that enough?" Bison said. "You beat me up quite badly. But you fool, you don't know what's going on around you."

"What?" Birdie said exhaustedly. And then he realized it: the chain he used to tie up Bison was not retrieved at all. Instead, Bison was now holding it in his hand. Birdie grasped his side of the chain and pushed for it. Bison didn't budge. He pushed with all his might, and then Bison was beginning to lose to his weight, slowly coming at him closely. When Bison was within reach, Birdie smirked.

"Hehe, thought you were a smartass, didn't you?" he said.

"You are a real dumbass, you idiot!" Bison cackled, smirking back. Suddenly, Birdie lost control of his chain, and realized fast wind surrounding him all 360 degrees. It took him a while to understand what was going on, but when he did, he saw that Bison was standing a distance from him, and he was tied up all around his arms and body. _He was spinning around me to tie me up?_, Birdie thought. _Damn! This chain is too powerful for even my strength… I can't break it!_

"Die, fool!" Bison said, dashing at him. He busted a combo of three jabs into the face, two in each of the ribs, once in the stomach, twice in the chest, and a single blow up the chin. It was too much for Birdie to handle.

"But why is it…?" Birdie asked, as he collapsed to the ground after spinning in the air several times. "Why does it hurt me….?"

Bison walked over to him and put his foot on his chest. "You idiot, you use chains as an add-on to your fist. But my strength is pure bones that I perfected during my boxing years. I am a professional puncher. My punches are like a comet. And I use much less energy than you do with your weight."

"Yes, but you will not win this easily!" Birdie exclaimed with anger, as he used all his energy to knock his foot away and push him away with a few hits.

"So, you still have some energy left in you, huh?" Bison said angrily. "Looks like this'll be going much longer."

"I will not—" Birdie was stopped by a gunfire behind Bison. They both looked and saw some cops.

"You, and you, the other dude who was running away before, you are both under arrest, you foreigners!" the leading cop said.

"This is troublesome!" Bison said. "And in the middle of such a good fight…"

The cops seemed to be scared by both of them… perhaps since they looked so big and powerful. They closed in on them slowly. "Put your hands up and no tricks!"

"Like hell I will!" Birdie said, as he held his fist up high in the air. "With my final strength, I shall emit my technique to get he hell out of here!"

Birdie punched the ground using all his weight to add to it, and the ground shook as if there was an earthquake. Most of the cops fell or lost balance or accidentally fired their guns at wrong targets. Bison took advantage of this and quickly knocked out most of the cops after the shaking stopped. Some of them were still conscious, so they both still had to make a run for it to avoid gunfire.

**[1 Hour Later, Birdie's Secret Hiding Place, Thailand]**

"This would have made a good base for Shadaloo… why didn't we spot this before? It's even more hidden than our former base here."

Bison was shocked at looking at the place. It was a secret chamber behind an abandoned bathroom that was no longer used.

"But it's too small for a Shadaloo Base," Birdie said.

"For Vega it would have been a good hiding place," Bison said. "So…"

Birdie lifted his eyebrows. "It seems that our fight still continues. But you are the one that followed me here. Don't tell anyone this is my base."

"I have no interest in killing you anymore," Bison explained. "It seems Vega is a bad leader. However, we can take his place if we take control of the Psycho Drive."

"What?" Birdie said. "So you are now interested in the Psycho Drive also?"

"Yes, and if we work together we can definitely bust into the place and steal it," Bison said. "You will have a much better chance with me. I know all of Vega's bases."

"Hehe…," Birdie wondered about what other advantages he would have. Bison could turn out to be a traitor. Nevertheless, he had no other choice. "Okay. You're in."

"It seems we have made an agreement," Bison smirked. "Shadaloo is now our enemy."


	10. Intersection in India

** [ S t r e e t F i g h t e r A l p h a 3 ( P a r t 3) ]**

** [Sumo Wrestler's Area, Japan]**

"Hrryaaaaaah!!" E. Honda collided with his opponent, knocking him straight down to the ground. A group of men surrounded the two sumo wrestlers that were fighting. Beside the fighting area were sitting a number of more sumo wrestlers, training together.

"This is awesome, he busted seven sumo wrestlers in a row!" a man yelled out loudly. "Edmond Honda is amazing!"

A trail away, Ryu, in his new standard karate gi, walked down the path on bare feet. His feet were so hard and burnt from walking on the road that he might need another break. But this would not slow him down: he was just about to pass a place where he heard the sound of grunting, roaring, and thumping. He had definitely reached a fighter's area. He looked around and saw only a band of sumo wrestlers… there were no other style fighting.

"That's all?" he asked himself slowly.

"What do you mean, 'that's all?'" a sumo wrestler sitting behind him said. "Do you think we're not tough, little traveler?"

"Sorry, sumo wrestlers never really intrigued me that much—"

"Aha! A disbeliever!" the wrestler said, getting up. "Well, we've had a lot like you dissimilar fighters talking that way about sumo wrestling. Sumo wrestling is the toughest fighting style in this weak world! And whoever said that had to take back their word."

"I never really said I dislike the style, I just never interested in the fighters," Ryu responded politely.

"Well then, you're not being forced, but you better give a shot at our boss," the wrestler said.

"Boss?" Ryu asked.

"Edmond Honda. He's the toughest sumo wrestler known."

"Edmond Honda?" Ryu said. "Is he a street fighter?"

"Of course he is! He's the guy that travels all over Japan and starts fights in the middle of the roads to impress people and convince them that sumo wrestling is great. He's the only man that's trying to make sumo wrestling famous by traveling."

"I see," Ryu said. "I never heard of him, but we'll have to see."

The sumo wrestler pointed to the circle of men, who were obviously surrounding a fight. Ryu walked over and squeezed in, revealing to his eyes two sumo wrestlers fighting and punching, thrusting, and bashing. In the end, a wrestler with short hair and red marks across his face flew over to the other wrestler and bashed him hard with his head. He was definitely an expert. _This must be Honda_.

The sumo wrestler fell, and Honda stood up, revealing his true size. The men clapped their hands loudly.

"Any other of you got the wits out there?" Honda said boastfully.

Ryu raised his hand. "Me."

"Hmmmm!" Honda said. "A dissimilar fighter! So, another one that I gotta teach a lesson to. When will you karate guys learn? Sumo Wrestling is unbeatable."

"Ryu, of Ansatsuken," Ryu said calmly, entering the circle of combat.

And then, it happened. People all over gasped, and Honda took a closer look at him, finally revealing more interest and some fear.

"It is _the_ Ryu?" Honda said. "The champion of the Street Fighter World Tournament? Oh why did I not realize you, your photos are all over the martial artist fans."

Ryu nodded. "You are strong, Edmond Honda. Please let us begin our fight."

"Hehe, I can't believe I'm already fighting the champion!" Honda said. People stared in awe as the two fighters made their stances. Honda bent his knees and rested on his legs again. Ryu had a left-side-first stance with his hands tightly open. He fixed his headscarf, and tightened his gloves.

"Perhaps, by defeating you, I can bring good fame to the style of sumo wrestling, and more people will join us," Honda said wonderingly. They approached each other slowly, still in their stances, with their toe-fingers making them crawl towards each other. And suddenly—

"HYAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!" The launched at each other.

…

**[New York, USA]**

Karin walked back and forth across the deserted, roofed parking lot, holding on to her car. She was very anxious.

"Two hours of waiting and he's still not here."

She sat down inside her car, and was about to turn it on when she decided to wait a bit longer. She rested back in her seat and thought about her one and only rival—Sakura. Sakura, the only girl that was able to defeat her. It had been just two months ago when Karin had finally gone to Japan with Ken, her good friend who sometimes would spar with her, and through learning some Japanese, was able to communicate with Sakura. And Sakura was also a fan of street fighting. She had made a mistake by betting Sakura that Ryu, the man who was Ken's rival, would lose against Sagat in the World Tournament. But she was wrong, and lost her bet. At that time, in her anger, Karin had to challenge Sakura to a match, to determine who's better. But Sakura had mimicked so much of Ryu's moves that she was almost like her successor. And she beat him. _The only girl ever to beat me!_, she thought. _In all my school years I never lost a match because Ken taught me so much. But Ken always went so easy on me. Is it as if Ryu and Ken's old rivalry the same as Sakura and my rivalry? But does that mean that Ryu is better than Ken? Wait, no, that's not possible. Ken is so strong I once saw fire in his fist… what _was_ that anyway? But no… Ryu is much more powerful too… he won the tournament, you idiot! Don't underestimate Ryu… I only regret that I lost to that Sakura. Why did I lose my bet and lose to her at the same time?_

While being in such a big conflict with her mind, Karin didn't notice the red car that parked beside her. A man wearing a rich uniform and blue sunglasses hopped out and realized that Karin was looking at the blank top of her car. _She must be thinking_. He went over to her and poked her, and she swung her head around until finally she realized Ken standing there. Opening her door, she came out and gasped sadly.

"You scared the hell outta me," she said.

"What did you call me here for?" Ken asked. "This place is so dirty and deserted and… dirty."

"Of course it is, it's a damn parking lot!" she replied. "Why the hell did you take so long you idiot!"

Although Karin meant to hit him hard on the head, his head didn't move at all.

"Was that a playful bonk?" he asked.

Karin grew angrier. "Damn you! This is exactly why I called you here! I want to fight you, now! And this is no sparring. This is an actual fight!"

Ken looked at her for a while, then walked around for a bit, then circled her. He seemed to be observing her. Then he checked out her fist, her wrist, and her hair. Then he walked a distance away, and laughed with all his might. His laughter grew to a cackle that filled the entire parking lot, and he fell to the ground with a giant _ tHuD_.

"What—THE HELL?!?!" Karin shouted. "You ass! Why the hell are you laughing?! WHAT?!"

Ken laughed for another minute so strongly that Karin couldn't yell anymore, and decided to wait instead. Her sarcasm slowed down his laughter and he finally stopped, realizing that he was overreacting, and jumped back up.

"The problem is, Karin," Ken said, "First of all, you are a girl. Not that I think you're weak, because I've had some tough matches with girls before. I mean there's some good fighters out there. The second problem is, you're an average _American_ girl. Which means you care more about your damn looks than your fighting ability. I mean look at your hair!... wait a minute, this has nothing to do with Sakura, does it?"

"I already forgot about Sakura, it happened like two months—"

"—Karin."

Ken's seriousness had to stop her from lying. So she sighed, and looked back up. "Okay fine. Sakura is the only girl that's ever beaten me. I was always more fond of fighting rather than _looking_ good."

"Well, Sakura's been practicing, and of course she's a fanatic, not a fan, like you."

"Are you a fanatic?"

"Err.. no."

"Why not? Then how can you get so good in fighting?"

"Well….," Ken couldn't think of a good lie, so he just threw some of the truth. "I never cared about the stupid discipline fighting when I was about your age, because in my day I used to jump people when I wanted a fight. But my dad sent me to Japan and I learned some more about fighting. Truthfully, with discipline you become stronger. But you don't take any special fighting class so you can't really become as strong as Sakura."

"So Sakura has a karate dojo or something?" Karin asked.

"Nah," Ken said. "let's just get through this. Come on, let's fight."

They stared at each other for a while, and then—

"HYAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!" The launched at each other.

**[Osaka, Japan]**

"Concentrate, loooose your soul!" Dan shouted out loud to Sakura, who was having trouble meditating. Finally she gave up. "Why would I wanna lose my soul anyway, I'm not ready to die yet. I just wanna fight."

Bored, Sakura got up and hanged onto the window of the wooden house and stared out at the narrow, old-fashioned street.

"I have mistaken you, apprentice, you are but a disappointing pupil," Dan said.

_What DOES he mean by pupil?_, Sakura wondered to herself. For a while, Dan had been calling her a pupil.

"Yo, I'm going out for a while. Gotta get some air."

She walked out. Within five minutes, she flew back in and slammed the door against the wall forcefully.

"What is the rush, pupil?" Dan said, irritated.

"Can you give me some money?" Sakura said enthusiastically.

"Have all the money you want, but first tell me what for."

"Ahhh… damnit. I just heard some guys on the television showing a _live_ fight! Sumo Wrestling! Ryu fighting with a Sumo Wrestler!"

"Ahhh," Dan said. "Ryu… Ryu… familiar… familiar… money…. Hm… money… sumo… what was that…. Sumo… wrestling…?"

Sakura grew instantly bored, and waited until Dan finished.

"All right!" Dan said, standing up. "I am finally proud at you for the first time!"

"Eh? What's the reason to be proud of?" Sakura asked.

"Well… um… yeah… whatever," he bluffed. "Come, let's take a walk."

Walking out the streets, Dan kept repeating same things over and over, or so it seemed to Sakura. He was repeating the entire history of Martial Arts and what Ryu is and a great fighter he is. He said such basic things that even a kid would know it. But Sakura listened, in patience, because it was Dan's money. If Dan got angry at her, she might not get the money. Finally, at last, when they reached a park that was miles away, Dan stopped. "ooo… Evening time! All right, Pupil, I will let you go to find Ryu once again. But… what do you want with him now?"

"Perhaps I can fight with him some more," Sakura said.

"Won't the fight be over when you get there?" Dan asked.

"I don't care, I'll just ask the wrestlers where he went," Sakura said, making a pose. "I'll chase him all over the world if it takes me to."

"Okay, now a few wise advices from your sensei: Blah blah blah, blah blah blah!"

"Right…," Sakura began to walk away, but Dan stopped her once again.

"Halt! First, you mist achieve this opportunity by defeating me first!" he yelled. Sakura stopped, paused for a while, and then turned around enthusiastically. For a while, they just smirked, and then—

"HYAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!" The launched at each other.

** [Sumo Wrestler's Area, Japan]**

Ryu once again slid past Honda to dodge another one of his quick punches. Again, Honda thrust his fist again, and Ryu had to vault above him, following with a full-weighted punch—setting him straight to the ground.

"You are skilled, Edmond, but you act before you think," Ryu said, hopping back.

"Ughhh," Honda got back up. _He is much different than any other foreign fighters I ever fought! But why?_

"I still have some more in me," Honda said hastily, as he crouched very low to the ground and charged up a move that Ryu did not know of. The crowd around them seemed to be expanding, so there wasn't much room for them to fight. Honda ordered them to loosen up the battling area a bit, and the area loosened. Ryu waited for Honda's attack, and so it came:

The mighty sumo wrestler used all his power to surpass his body weight, in order to swoop straight at his opponent. He was so quick that Ryu was too slow to react, and was knocked with such force that if he didn't pluck his feet into the ground he would have been shot out of the battling area, thus losing.

_ That move!_, Ryu thought as he breathed intensely. _What a move! How?..._

"Interesting," Honda said. "Everyone who I used this on has never been able to stop himself from falling out of the area."

Ryu slowly pulled his legs out of the hard-sand ground and relaxed his muscles. "I must be more careful now." Once again, Honda crouched down to the ground and prepared for his move.

"Not this time!" Ryu shouted, as he dashed at him, trying to prevent him from using the technique once again. But it was too late: this time Honda set off faster than before. Once again, Honda came flying at him head-first. Ryu, having to act fast, packed a punch into the middle of his head, but the force that Honda was coming at didn't stop him at all. Plus his body weight was superior compared to the force of Ryu's punch. Honda proceeded to bashing Ryu into the chest. This time, it hurt worse, but Ryu was able to halt in the middle of the air, and fight his force into his foot—shooting himself to Honda. Surprised, Honda was caught in ribs.

Ryu proceeded to setting various combos to Honda, but the powerful sumo wrestler was able to counter with sucb quick punches that Ryu had to withdraw a distance away. _ Wait a minute!_, he thought. _I got it…._

Honda rested his body very quickly. Indeed the man had great stamina, as Ryu realized. Once again, Honda crouched down to use his move once again. Ryu waited, and prepared for his counter that definitely had to work.

Within a few seconds, Honda shot towards his opponent, but this time much slower. It seemed that he was getting tired. With this much time, it was very easy for Ryu to execute energy into his hands, and even charge it for a while. Unable to stop, Honda was forced to be shot head-first with the fireball. Within an instant, the fireball turned red, and Honda felt the feeling of his entire body burning for a second, then total relief, and then falling to the ground.

It seemed that the two fighters had made a well-experienced battle, for the first time Honda had to admit that he had used all of his Sumo wrestling abilities and was unable to defeat a foreign fighter. But he would continue to fight. However, Honda wondered about the strange fireball that Ryu had executed…

"Ryu," Honda called him, as they both sat together in a Sumo-wrestling gathering.

"Edmond?"

"I have never seen a fireball turn red before, except one time before you, when I was fighting… this person," he said. "You are not an ordinary fighter, are you? No wonder you won the tournament. I should have taken you more seriously, but I was too confident on my sumo wrestling abilities."

"I see," Ryu said.

"How?" Honda asked. It seemed to Ryu very obvious what Honda was asking.

"Even I don't know how, it just happens," Ryu said. "It is the existence… is all I know of… I use it. And that's all I know. If flame is your soul, then flame is your energy."

"Difficult," Honda said thoughtfully. "Yet interesting. I have fought one person before you, who was able to execute such a fireball… except that guy surpassed even your abilities when I fought him. Do you want to be a stronger fighter, Ryu?"

"My dream," Ryu said. "Is to become the best Street Fighter… and to …"

"And?"

"Nevermind." Ryu couldn't tell him about Gouki.

"Well, that man lives in India," Honda said. "His name… is… Dhalsim."

"……" Ryu didn't know what to say.

"He is… the master," Honda said. "Invincible. You should go see him. He might teach you to strengthen that fireball.."

"I don't need training," Ryu said, getting up as he picked his bag and hung it on his shoulder. "I fight the way I am."

"But if it is your dream as a warrior, it is the dream of a warrior," Honda said, "and the dream of a warrior should be accomplished using any trick, any move, any type of training, any risk, at any cost. That is the chance that you have to take… if you were totally mind-set on this dream, you would definitely go to see Dhalsim."

Ryu hesitated to speak for a moment, and thought. "I have thought of going to other countries to find better fighters. Okay. I'll give it a shot. India, huh?"

"He lives in a northern village of India, near the Ganges river…," Honda said. "You'll see. When you get there, everyone knows of who he is, and where he lives. He is very secret to his mastery, so ask him as a warrior, not a begger. Challenge him. Fight him. Show him your techniques. And he will show you his."

"I see," Ryu said, turning to his next goal. "See you then, Japanese fighter."

"No problem, Japanese fighters are like brothers, we stick together!" Honda said. "Good luck."

** [New York, USA]**

In a matter of minutes, Karin flew across the parking lot and smashed into wall. Ken sprinted towards her and caught her, and shook her almost violently.

"Yo, you all right? Did I hit too hard?"

"Get away already!" Karin said, forcing him to let go. She was unable to stand up in her condition, though. Her knees were half bent, hair tangled up, bleeding from the mouth, and her right arm hanging down faintly.

"I overestimate too much, sorry," Ken said. "Well, better get going. You're troublesome, ruined my new coat and broke my sunglasses. Pretty good for a little kid though."

"Don't underestimate me neither, you Ken Masters!" Karin shouted. "Hey! Where are you going?"

"I'm going back home, then I have a date with Eliza, and then next week I'm going to India," Ken shouted back, as he walked to his car. Karin followed him.

"India? What for?" she asked.

"Training, I guess, and I haven't been to India before," Ken said, smirking coolly. "Want to see if there are any street fighters there."

"I thought you didn't like training," Karin said.

"I don't, I'm not the type that would train to get stronger because I can kick anyone's ass," Ken said. "I just can't beat this one guy!!"

"Ryu, perhaps?" Karin teased.

"Don't say the evil name," Ken said, gritting his teeth. "I've heard of a master monk there, perhaps he can teach me something about powering up fireballs."

"Huh?"

When they reached their cars, Karin thought for a minute. And then proceeded to saying: "Hey… I have free time as well. So, can I come to India with you?"

"No," Ken said. "Too dangerous. Plus having to carry around a kid like you would be troubling."

"No, no, maybe I can train too!" Karin said. "Plus I can fight you more."

"In the condition you're in? I don't think so."

"I can! I'll heal! PLEEEEAASE!"

Ken looked at her with a sneer, and a half annoyed look. Karin continued pleading. "PLEAASEE PLEASE PLEEEEEEEAASE PLEASE PLEEEASE PLEAAASE PLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEE—"

"OKAY OKAY!" Ken shouted to make her stop. "Just shut up and I'll take you. First you need permission from your parents or something though. Going to a different country ain't normal business."

"'kay fine."

** [Sumo Wrestler's Area, Japan]**

"Hey, mister?" Sakura asked. "Where's that big dude who was fighting the guy with the headband?"

"Huh?" the sumo wrestler said. "Hm… oh, the guy with the headband! He just left!"

"I know," Sakura said. "That's why I'm asking you where is the guy who was fighting him."

"Umm…., you mean Edmond?"

"Uh… if that's his name."

Sakura gulped, as the sumo wrestler got up and shouted across the area: "Hey, Edmond!!!!!! Some schoolgirl here to see you!"

Within a few seconds, a giant wrestler stepped up to Sakura. He was much bigger than he looked on the television. He seemed to be pretty injured: it seemed Ryu had beaten him.

"Yes?" Honda asked.

"Um… where did Ryu go?" Sakura said. In order to be more specific, she continued: "You know… the guy wearing the white gi."

"Ryu, yes, I know," Honda said. "He was headed to India. Up on the northern side near the Ganges river lives a monk in a village. Ryu went to meet him."

"Ah, DARN IT!!!" Sakura shouted, throwing her flowers to the ground. "I gotta chase him again?!?!"

"Well, you can if you really need him that badly," Honda said. "Well, that Ryu sure put some strain on my body and I can't just stand here now. I must get my rest! Get on, now, girl. This ain't a place for you."

"Fine, leave me like that! I 'm going after you, Ryu! I'm coming to India!!" the sound of her voice almost scared even the wrestlers.


	11. Shinkuu Hadouken!

** S t r e e t F i g h t e r A l p h a 3 ( P a r t 3) **

** Small Village near the Ganges River, India**

_Poof_. Rose appeared inside a temple, standing behind a very in-depth monk who practiced the Yoga Style.

"Yo, Dhalsim," Rose greeted him.

"Ahh…. Rose…," the monk, Dhalsim, looked quite surprised. But he spoke in a very old and dragging tone. "It has been a while… have you been busy?"

"Indeed," Rose said. "I have… had a lot of work to do and couldn't find the chance to meet you. But it is not like I didn't come here out-of-business."

"I see," Dhalsim said, as he kept practicing stretching his arms across the floor. "Tell me… what is this business? Is it… _him?_"

"Affirmative," Rose said. "Me and him have the same kind of moods, feelings, and sense… that is why, I can tell, that Vega is up to no good. He is… after a very mysterious and lone-traveling street fighter."

"Is he plotting to take over a body again?" Dhalsim said, returning his stretched hands to his head and meditating as he arose slowly into the air.

"I don't know, but it is very obvious that he is," Rose continued, "that man is the holder of the World Tournament trophy. His name is Ryu."

For a while, Dhalsim didn't speak, his eyes staying shut and him rising into the air more and more. Then, all in one second, his eyes flew open, and he collapsed to the ground with utmost balance.

"Ryu… yes… I have seen him fight. Spiritual fighter. Very… very spiritual."

" I know it is not like you to teach, but I, as a friend of yours, request and plead that you teach him the art of the hadou," Rose said.

Once again, Dhalsim paused. But he did speak: "You are very rushing, Rose… it is not like Vega hasn't caused this kind of trouble before. Then why this Ryu?"

"Because within Ryu I sense a peculiar feeling," Rose said. "His feeling, I mean… he has some strange sort of desire and it is very powerful. But he does not know how to control it. But it is his fate to fight Vega and if he is not ready, he will die. He must learn to fight with his soul, not strength."

"That is true," Dhalsim said, getting up. "Okay. But where?"

"He is coming here, and he will reach within a day or two," Rose said. "You will easily recognize him. He is not like any other human."

"Good," Dhalsim said, nodding once. "I will handle this Ryu. You go on."

"Thank you, partner."

-Two Days Later

A Few Kilometers Away

"Well, this is the Ganges," Ken said out loud, but the sound of the stream was wiping out his sound almost completely. "Now all we have to look for is the village!"

"Right!" Karin said. "Whatever! Let's just get out of here!"

"What?"

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

The stream, of course, did not quiet down. As he tried to walk away, Ken had to grab Karin from falling into the rushing water. The rocks on the edge were extremely subtle. And as he picked Karin up and walked away, his feet would emit cracks on the rocky surface. A mile walk was all he needed to get tired with a girl on his arms.

"Very… strong… current!" he shouted. It seemed that the sound of the water was very low, but still hearable. "What were you thinking even getting close to that place? You could have died and I would have been convicted."

"What… ever!" Karin shouted, also seeming to be tired even though she had not been the one to walk. Ken put her down, and let her walk after a few minutes rest. After walking long enough to get Karin tired for sure, they were facing what looked like a large gate. It was so wide that its silver stone disappeared into the surrounding woods.

"What is this?" Ken asked.

A few men came by and began yelling at them in a foreign language. More men gathered as they did so.

"They seem to want us to leave," Ken said to Karin, as she hid behind him. His guess turned out quite right, as the men grabbed odd-shaped lances and charged at him, giving him a last warning.

"No, I am NOT leaving!" Ken said. "This gate…"

"Could it be a shield for the village that you were looking for?" Karin asked.

"That it must be!" Ken said. "A village with a gigantic gate! Okay then, I must get in!"

The men surrounded them with their spears, and closed in. As one of them launched towards Ken, he almost flung a kick when he heard the sound of screaming. They both stopped and looked to a girl who was oddly clothed in a shirt and skirt, kind of like a uniform.

"Sakura?..." Karin stared as the girl struggled, being carried by two men. The men themselves stopped and stared at Ken and Karin. Ken jumped out of the band of men that surrounded him and K.O.-ed them with two swings.

"Ken!" Sakura shouted. "What are you doing here?! Oh good thing you're here. These guys are so tough my fighting skills have no effect on them!"

"Shut up and let me fight!" Ken slid in and out from one man to another, with quick moves that were strong enough to knock them all out. When the final man standing flew up and hit the ground with a _thud_, Ken took out a towel and wiped himself.

"All done! Phew—HEYY!!!!" Ken turned around to reveal Sakura and Karin fighting rather violently. "I thought you guys were helping me all along! So I was fighting by myself while you were fighting YOUR rivalry? GrrR!"

He broke them up rather violently, as they both flung in opposite directions. Sakura crashed into the large gate, and Karin hit a nearby tree. She dragged down the itchy bark and fell softly on the ground. She got up, and turned around, revealing a naked back of her upper body.

"Sorry," Ken said. Karin didn't speak for a moment, and looked deeply into Sakura's eyes, who were very confused and resembling darkness.

"Sakura, I challenge you to a match," Karin said.

"No," Sakura responded firmly.

Karin's eyes flashed.

--

_It was an average after-school day, and the weather was sunny, but had a slight feel of mist around a band of schoolgirls, who were surrounding an average (everyday in Tokyo) schoolfight. Except this time, it was a foreign American who was fighting the best of Minami High School, Sakura. Although tough, fast, and very teasing, Sakura had been fighting Karin for nearly fifteen minutes: the longest fight she had ever had._

_But the match had nearly ended. They both shot at each other. Karin had just about landed a good blow when she felt a sharp pain in her knee, and realized that Sakura had already hit her with a hook kick to her side. Sakura landed her final blow into the exhausted Karin, and their battle was officially over._

_Minutes, and the girls cheered. And minutes, as Karin took deep breaths and held her hand on her neck. Sakura gave her a supporting hand, but Karin rejected it._

_"Remember, Karin, this settles the match," Sakura said. "There is no rematch."_

_--_

Sakura's eyes flashed. "Remember, Karin, _that_ settled the match. There is not going to be a rematch."

Karin nodded. "But there will be a rematch. Whether you like it or not, I'll fight you one day. And if you don't fight me back, I'll just hit you until you're down. Or is it that you're scared, Sakura?"

"Hmmmm…. May I interrupt?"

Ken walked over to the large gate, and tried to open it, but it was too strong and large. "I can't handle you two fighting in a place like this where we've already found enemies."

"So, what's your plan?" Sakura said to him, looking away from Karin.

"No, I want to know," Karin declared, taking Sakura's attention again. "Are you scared, Sakura?"

"Karin, shut the—"

"No, Ken, I'll tell her," Sakura said. She walked over to Karin, and looked in her eyes.

"The match was a draw, I was too greedy for victory, so I didn't want to tell you," Sakura said.

"What do you mean?" Karin said in a confused voice, as she bent down and analyzed her knee. Ken ignored them and made a unique power-up stance, and began meditating. Sakura began to explain.

"That day…

--

_But the match had nearly ended. They both shot at each other. Karin had just about landed a good blow when she felt a sharp pain in her knee. Sakura looked and realized Karin in pain before she launched a hook kick to her side. Before thinking that this match was getting serious, Sakura landed her final blow into the exhausted Karin, and their battle was officially over._

_When Karin was unconscious and sent to the hospital, Sakura went to check up on her. The doctor said her knee joint had been damaged about a week ago, and was growing worse._

--

"

"I see," Karin said, minutes later.

"Your kicks were weak, but you used them a lot more than you used your punches, which I feared more," Sakura said. "What your wound was, I do not know. And why you used your kicks even though it hurt, I do not know. And I will not ask."

---Clash!—_vrooooooooooooooooooooooooooo_…….

Ken had dipped his fist magically into a part of the door… the door melting into cascades of wounds. Ken's flaming hand caught up to his arm and began burning it black. Sakura smacked her hands on her open, amazed mouth.

Finally, the fire-lit knuckles appeared around from inside the door to another side. It seemed to be stuck inside. With the other hand, Ken threw his hand rapidly at all parts reachable on the door, as if firing fists from a machine gun. The door lost to keeping hold of the flaming arm, and Ken finished off with an indescribable blow, revealing a hole on the giant door. Smoke flew from his hand in great speed, and continued to flow long distances. He had burnt his entire arm up to his shoulders.

He walked into the village from the hole, the villagers exchanging looks and transforming their looks of surprise to anger. Some of them yelled at him lightly. Sakura and Karin, unable to exclaim of Ken's great skill at the time, clinged closely to him as he walked comfortably.

After a few seconds of walking through the uncomfortable place with countless people glaring at them, Karin noticed Ken had slowed his walking pace… and slowed down to a halt. She understood why: they were hearing fast dirt-pressing noises behind them. They three flung around and saw the people who had attacked them earlier, attacking them again.

Ken jumped ahead of Sakura and Karin and loaded up. Before the attacking guards got to him, a leading voice spoke behind them, and everything came to a stop. Once again looking behind them, they saw Dhalsim standing. Behind him was Ryu.

"More foreigners, I think?" Dhalsim said to them.

**Dhalsim's Domain, India**

It wasn't exactly a domain, a house, or home, as Ken thought. It was more like a public temple. All kinds of statues hanging on the walls and people making indescribable prayers. On another chamber was a line of elephants, which didn't seem to like the foreigners. On another chamber was an odd yoga-styling dojo system. In another chamber was a bed larger than ten king bed. They would have figured this was Dhalsim's bedroom, but on the bed were sleeping a number of women. On another chamber was what they thought a bathroom.. but looked like a large spring with men bathing and toilets inside the floor.

"So what is exactly this place?" Sakura asked nervously, as she walked close to Ryu.

"My home," he replied.

"But there were women sleeping in your bed?"

"Alone is not me."

"Not to mention you don't even have privacy in the bathroom!"

"It is science."

"And your elephants like to hit our asses with their trunks?"

"It is well."

"How long have you known Ryu?" Ken asked.

"Ryu, the man who won the tournament… I have known him for a while. Ryu, the inner man, I have come to meet him for a few days."

"Why do you speak so freakishly?"

"Freakish?"

"What's up with your weird stretching ability?"

("Haha, Karin, this guy could fake to be the tallest man just for that!")

("Tell me about it!")

Sakura and Karin giggled loudly.

"ANNOYING ME, YOU ARE!" Dhalsim yelled forcefully.

"Eek!"

A few minutes later, Dhalsim came to calm down rather quickly. "The only man.. and woman… of well honor and sense here is Ryu. Therefore, if I talk to the rest of you, it is equal to talk to cows."

"Why cows? Why not deers or…"

Sakura stopped just by Dhalsim's sleepily angry look.

Several hours later, the sun sank to the other side, revealing a shade of blueish glow in the sky. Dhalsim had told Ryu to take rest, and the next day he will teach him the secrets of the Hadou. Ryu took this quite well, as he was ready to sleep all night. But the question of Ken's presence bothered him.

"You came here, why?" he asked Ken while laying in his bed. Ken was laying in his own, his bed being opposite-ended to Ryu's. The girls had received a different room to sleep in.

"I wanted to see you. What you were up to. I am not going to be left behind!" Ken responded.

Pause. Ryu gazed on the roof for a while. "The fact that you exist still bothers me. You are far too competent with me."

The Next Day

"Well, Ryu, we begin now," Dhalsim said to the Ryu standing in an open field. "First, you must be able to feel your heart. Feel it pumping, and think as if it is pumping energy, not blood. It is pumping ki. And that ki does not travel through veins, but the path that you lead it to using your mind power. Only your nerves can perform this action."

"Tell me more," Ryu said, concentrating.

"When you feel that ki pumping through your heart, you must be able to gather all the ki from all parts of your body, and gather it all in your heart, and shoot it towards your shoulders, down your arms, and shield your wrist as it flows out of your fingertips and palm. This is the first part of your training."

"I am well able to perform a perfect fireball!" Ryu said.

"Ah, but that is not the case, you only know half of what there is," Dhalsim explained. "What you know is to gather the ki in your heart and shoot it towards your right arm, since you are right handed. What you don't do is gather all the ki to your heart, and then shoot it at _both_ arms."

"I see."

"A spar with your partner should warm you up," Dhalsim said.

Ryu concentrated. He tried, and nearly gathered it all into his heart, but it seemed it wasn't enough. His heart was not beating anymore, which meant it was full. But there was a sign that there was more ki in his body than he had taken in. He couldn't do it.

-Bang-

Ryu was levitated by Ken's high-kick and fell to the ground.

"What's the matter, not gonna fight?" Ken teased. Ryu shot up to his feet, and thought. Ken was never going to let a good opportunity to fight get away. It seemed no exit. He had to fight.

"Ryu will win," Sakura said comfortably.

"There's more to Ken than you think!" Karin replied.

Ryu accelerated to his opponent, jigged up, and revealed a single 360 degree spin kick with an out-of-nowhere elbow strike. The trick worked well with Ken but it wasn't enough to knock the stamina out of him.

Ken countered with an avoided low-kick that cost him a hidden attack from the behind, casting him into the air, brushing him against the green grass with an atmosphere of combat. Ken got back up. Ryu looked far more than ready.

Ken heated up, kicked dirt up with his feet, and rocketed up the rugged path straight to his rival. Ryu dodged a narrow attack and attempted to escape the battle core to straighten his defense, but was once again shoved sky-high with a vertical kick from Ken, up the chin. The unique thing about this kick was the _flame_ that was exerted from the balls of his feet. Ryu felt it. He felt the flame had nearly burnt his chin.

Dhalsim appeared interested in the match. He was holding his left hand on his chin, observing the Ken that now shifted his foot back on the ground, watching the Ryu that plummeted down the rough path and rolled backwards instantly to stand back up and show he wasn't done just yet.

_That flame…_, Dhalsim thought. _It isn't any normal technique to use it inside your body so easily. His toe is still sending up smoke, but it is not burnt. What is the reason for this?_

Ryu took deep breaths. Ken had definitely gone to elite dexterity and cleverness. For once, Ryu came to an ambition to fight this man for real—to see what he really is made of. It was like his fight with Sagat—Gouki! The feeling of fighting someone you believe is superior to you. But did that mean he was thinking Ken was superior, better than him? Was he inferior to Ken now? Had he really abandoned his training so long he had lost his skill?

Ken darted towards Ryu once again, and skidded by to dodge a full-strength side-kick, and shot a combo of incredibly fast punches at him while he was off-guard. But when the punches, releasing flame from his knuckles, were shot, Ryu amazingly evaded all of them. Ken proceeded to a flaming Shoryuken, and caught Ryu perfectly in his tornado of flame. When Ken landed back to the ground, letting his fiery body take a flexible rest, Ryu, too, touched the ground softly with his feet a few meters away.

Ken was shocked. Ryu had survived an ultra-powerful, finishing move that was combined by the element of fire. And Ryu seemed perfectly fine, hardly damaged at all. _What the hell is going on?_, Ken thought.

And then he noticed it. Ryu was surrounded by an imperceptible bluish-white glow that was placed faintly on the edges of his skin. It seemed Dhalsim had noticed it too. But Sakura and Karin were just mystified, not noticing the unique shine that was surrounding this warrior.

_Ryu… has…_

Ken grew confused and angry, and decided to charge up a fireball. Not as proficient on the art of hadou as Ryu was, although in Dhalsim's eyes Ryu was just a rookie, Ken endeavored the best he could to deliver a blast, and released it to the enemy. Ryu traced the route of the fireball, held up both of his hands, and the bluish glow passed down the route of his wrist, and caught the blast that was launched by Ken, and melted into Ryu's own hands. With the bluish glow now going into the blast that Ryu had just caught in his hand, the energy expanded. It grew larger than ever.

_And he has done it so quickly…_

Soon Ryu had to extend his hands so apart due to the size of the ki that a thought traveled to his mind. If he tried to compress this blast, each portion of the blast would be stronger than the original ki, and it would be about twice—no, triple times—stronger than the original ki. So he tried to compress this large blast, and realized it was turning orange, and then dark orange, and then light red, like a ball of lava with waves of dark red. But it was strong enough for Ryu to hold it in his hands in a miniature space.

Not hesitating at all to discharge the blast, Ryu did so. Ken grit his teeth. The blast had been constricted in Ryu's hands to a small but powerful size, but when launched it had the mass of twenty men. He thought quickly. _What can get rid of a large ball of flame?... wait…. WIND!_

Ken was just ready for another tornado of Shoryuken, of wind, not flame. But just when he was about to do so, a wall of water shot out from the ground and took out the blast.

"MASTERED IT!!!!"

Dhalsim clapped his hands while shouting it out loud. Everything came to a halt. Ken was still in his Shoryuken-stance. And Ryu was too desiring to fight than to stop and cool down to look at Dhalsim with his hot-red eyes. But he must resist.

"What I thought would be a mere warm-up turned out to be an interesting combat," Dhalsim said, clearing his throat. "Masters here is certainly a master of speed and cleverness. Surely has some interesting techniques. Ryu, on the other hand, has values in strength and concentration."

He paused, looking at Sakura and Karin whom had no idea what was going on, and continued.

"The reason Ken's elemental attacks weren't working was because Ryu's ki was absorbing the attacks and adding up. Ken should have tried physically. Ryu was finally able to learn the true fact about the Hadouken. The unknown, yet infamous, technique.

"Ken is not able to draw ki perfectly out of his body except for his hands, but he is somehow able to use the ki right on the edge of his skin, that causes major disturbance and friction, causing flame to be added to his technique. The flame doesn't long last enough to burn Ken himself. However, I am pretty sure that the first few times Ken used this he must have been damaged roughly."

Dhalsim took a deep breath. "My orders have been complete. Ryu, I was to train you the art. I have done so. Now, take a rest overnight and you may sleep."

During nighttime, Ryu and Ken didn't talk very much. It was as if they were feeling something left out. And it soon came clear to them that what was left out was the conclusion of their match. Why had Dhalsim caused that water to come out and stop the match?

_Was it because he thought I couldn't handle the blast?_, Ken thought.

It was too powerful for Ken to worry about right now, he was too tired. He decided to go to sleep.

The next day, Ryu had gone.


	12. The Assasin's Rose

** S t r e e t F i g h t e r A l p h a 3 ( P a r t 3) **

** Shadaloo Base, India**

"You called, Juni?" Vega asked angrily.

The doll nodded.

"Have you been working on your mission?" Vega asked, fuming with something mean to say to her.

"Mission complete," Juni responded. "Street Fighter Ryu is heading to India, which is this place."

Juni took out a visual displayer, which began to play a video of a teenage girl and a sumo wrestler.

_Um… where did Ryu go?" The girl said. "You know… the guy wearing the white gi."_

_"Ryu, yes, I know," The Sumo Wrestler said. "He was headed to India. Up on the northern side near the Ganges river lives a monk in a village. Ryu went to meet him."_

_"Ah, DARN IT!!!" The girl said loudly. "I gotta chase him again?!?!"_

_"Well, you can if you really need him that badly. Well, that Ryu sure put some strain on my body and I can't just stand here now. I must get my rest! Get on, now, girl. This ain't a place for you."_

_"Fine, leave me like that! I 'm going after you, Ryu! I'm coming to—"_

The video faded. Juni closed the displayer and put it back in her pocket.

"Perfect. That sumo wrestler seems familiar… hm…"

Vega didn't like to think. So he cut the subject, still trying to say something to Juni. She stared at him with her robotic eyes, not having any emotion at all.

"What are you looking at, pathetic bitch?" Vega said.

"I was wondering after completing this mission," Juni said, almost hesitantly, "if I could go live for my own for a few weeks. Have a time off."

"What?!" Vega growled.

"I have done enough chasing around, sir, I want to look at this world for myself," Juni said.

Vega stood up. "Do not ever repeat those false words. _Don't ever dream you could live as a human_. I am heading to our second base to track down this Ryu."

He vanished into the air, leaving Juni with the assurance he is going after Ryu in India. Juni was still looking blank, but in her mind she was being used. Behind Juni, a noise occurred. She looked back, and saw Sagat standing there. She blinked.

"You? Here?"

_So Ryu is here in India…_

Juni blinked again. "You were not supposed to be here according to Master Vega's commands."

Sagat turned his back to Juni and left the base.

**Dhalsim's Domain, India**

"So Ryu left?" Sakura said. "How could he ditch us? I didn't even talk to him at all!"

"Don't worry," Ken said. "He could not have gone far…"

Ken looked around, tracing the mountainous sight. There was nowhere to look. Ken was simply wasting his time.

"There's no point to look for Ryu," Karin said. "He's gone. He has other plans. He simply came here to master his technique and go. He had no interest in you, Ken, or you at all, Sakura. At all."

Sakura grit her teeth. "He would be such a heartless man?"

A really long pause awaited their answer. Ken was frowning.

"I know you two are going to continue searching for him," Karin said. "Ken, thanks for taking me here. But I must return. I learned a few lessons, that's all I was seeking. I'm going back."

"What? You can't leave now! Come on, hang out a bit more," Sakura said pleadingly.

"No, I better go," Karin replied. "I'm going to call the chopper down a few miles back to the airport. The trip from ganges really gave me a damn headache!"

"Good luck, then," Ken said. "Sakura, you and I are going to follow those foot tracks that Ryu supposedly left on the entrance. Let's investigate them."

Sakura nodded.

"You sure you're not gonna stick with us?" Ken asked to Karin, who began walking away.

"No."

Ken looked as her back slowly became smaller.

Few Miles Away

Ryu trekked through the rough terrain of India, his bag whirling around his back as he held it behind his shoulder. He reminded himself of the dream he had last night of a woman telling him to get away from Dhalsim's place now that he has learned the technique of the Hadouken.

"So...," he said to himself. "This man named Vega.. he is after me. I must run to the safest place possible, although I will have to face him anyway."

He recalled the 'dream' he had last night. A magical woman had appeared in his dream to run away to shelter as soon as possible, even though that won't help. Then she told him he must fight with his 'soul', not strength. It felt so real though! Could it have been a dream?

**, England**

Balrog traced his path and struck against people and people. Several times he hit the same people who grew furious with him asking, "Have you seen this lady?", holding a wrecked but still clear photo of a girl.

"What do you want?" one girl asked.

"This lady, have you seen her?" Balrog asked, showing her the photo. "Her name is Cammy. Cammy White."

"No, and if you really want to find her put up a 'Wanted' poster or go to the police station and file a report. Or take that mask off your head and acting like some damn criminal. Or just go get a life and stop begging people to recognize that lady and say yes."

Balrog didn't say anything. Instead, he hopped up to the side of a building and kicked off like a ninja, from one building to another, higher and lower, left to right. There was no other way to search for Cammy but to ask people that lived around the place where she was last identified. But a thought kicked in Balrog's head.

He turned up instantly in front of an old man, who did not seem to be frightened by his odd and sudden appearance. Balrog stared at him for a while. The man looked up, blinked, and decided to go ahead when Balrog stopped him harmfully.

"You know any mental centers around here?"

"The local one, down two blocks and left three blocks," the man responded. "There is a big sign saying, 'Criminal and Mental Institution'."

Balrog nodded. He faded away, hopped up the ledges of the nearest building, skipped in shortcuts and arrived at the place as instructed by the old man. He went inside. There was a lady at the nearest counter.

"Can I help you?" she asked without looking at him.

"I'm looking for a Cammy White."

"… Cammy?"

The woman didn't look for the name in the computer or try to identify any Cammy's. Instead, she looked up at Balrog. She seemed to notice the mask he was wearing and became paralyzed with panic. Perplexed, she tried to think further instead of considering him as some elite gangster.

"You a detective?" she asked, curiously.

"Yes," Balrog said. "I'm on a top-secret mission on a Cammy. I need to identify her and termi— turn her in."

The woman didn't ask for any kind of certificate for being a detective on investigation, she seemed rather stupid. She pushed up her glasses and sighed. "There have been too many phone calls and reports after Cammy escaped this place. She is now on the 'Most Wanted' list. She has a big connection with Shadaloo, some say."

"So what do you have to say in order to assist me?" Balrog questioned impatiently.

"Funny," the woman said. "If you _were_ really a detective you would have actually corrected me."

"Corrected you for what?" Balrog seemed to have made an error. His impatience led him to almost the desire of swiping her to death.

"Well… it just so seems that on the Shadaloo documents, the fraud that Cammy escaped this place was made in order to frighten the public as well as put Shadaloo in action. If I didn't know any better I'd say you're…. _not _a detective. You're part of this case. And since you must be stopped from knowing this as you're part of the society, you'll have to be turned in to the police and electrocuted so that your memory is erased. Killed, even."

The woman quickly reached for her phone, but Balrog managed to draw out his swiping claws from his left hand's gauntlet and easily shove the phone off, along with its cord, letting it crash into merchandise.

"What the—you little—!!!" the woman almost reached for a self-defense knife when Balrog punched her directly in the face with the right hand so that she would crash into the wall behind head-first.

"So," Balrog said to himself quietly, not caring if the woman was even conscious to listen to him. "This means she is still here. She did try to escape, got caught anyway, but in the news it still said she had escaped…"

_What a fool this society is and the government's people that give away secrets, in hopes that the listeners wouldn't even live to say it to the rest of the people. Underestimation is a major weakness._

Balrog shook his head. For a minute, a picture of Rose flicked in his head. He didn't know why. He remembered the last talk he had had with Rose. He shook his head again, and searched for the name "Cammy White" in the computer, and found her name with information and location inside the building. Indeed, the woman was a good tester, but not good at keeping secrets. Balrog grabbed the woman, threw her in the closest closet he found, and shut it. He wiped his right hand against his clothes and walked up the stairs patiently, to Cammy's room. He opened it softly, looked inside, and found her sleeping on a bed with wires tied around her, as if she was a prisoner.

He walked inside, over to the Cammy he had been ordered by Vega to locate and terminate. Slowly, he moved his left arm forward, and rested his claws on her neck. In the past, Vega had given Balrog many opportunities to go kill people—only because Balrog was a master assassin. He could kill a person and not even let them live long enough to bear the pain. He was a master of instant dispatch.

But not this time. When he pressed lightly on her neck, and saw blood trickling out, Cammy's eyes rushed open. Balrog knew that he shouldn't have pressed so softly, he should have cut her and get the job done. The mistake was not changeable. He would have to do it again. But it didn't work. Cammy screamed, whirled around madly, even through the clutch of the wires. Balrog could easily kill her right here. He swung swiftly, but missed. Instead, the wires were cut. Cammy took the opportunity to retreat a distance away from him, catched her breath, and looked at him with panic.

"You…," she said despairingly.

Balrog did not want to talk. The sooner he killed her, the better. If he hesitated, he would not want to kill her anymore. He leapt at her with his claw and delivered a neck-trapping swipe from the side, but she ducked and tried to low-kick him, causing him to jump up and back down with another swipe. She rolled forward, behind him, and jumped away to avoid another swipe.

Balrog was omnipotent with his claws, Cammy could not do anything but avoid. In the end, she avoided another attack and went through the shattering window. She fell out, facing the traffic below, with no optimism for living anymore. But then she felt a firm right-hand grab her. It was Balrog. He took her and hopped off the walls of the buildings, one to another. He let her go on the footpath.

Cammy became confused. At first he wanted to kill her. But now he saved her. What did he want?

"You… are?"

"Vega's orders were to terminate you—not necessarily meaning death, and he sent me to do the job," Balrog said. "I was thinking of swiping you to death so that I can taste your blood. Dropping you off a building would be of no use."

Cammy's eyes were exposed in horror. She did not have the will to fight for her life anymore. _Terminate_ _me?_, she thought blankly. _Not necessarily meaning death? What is the meaning of this? Is there a fate worse than death? Is not recognizing anything in the world, who you are, what your name is.. is that a fate worse than death?! Is there an even more hellish fate?_

Once again, Balrog lifted his arm with the claw. But Cammy was gone. In less than ten seconds, she had raged across the path, from wall to wall, path to path, and escaped. Balrog could have chased her. But he didn't. Why?

He shook his head once more to snap out of it. There was no time to lose. He traced her steps, and didn't have to look long to find her. He found her laying flat on the ground of a narrow alley. He walked over, and picked her up. She was unconscious of fear, perhaps.

_What a lady,_ Balrog thought. _That who already has the unfortunate memory loss… and now she's a prey to another of our plans. Does she deserve this? And what is Vega going to do with her?_

He set off to find out. He went to the Shadaloo base in England, and was immediately transported to the elite base in the United States, called the Shadaloo Headquarters.

**Shadaloo Headquarters, U.S.A.**

"You have brought her," Vega said, more happily than he had been before. "… Well done, Balrog."

Balrog set Cammy down, but, directed by Vega's psychic powers, Cammy floated up, in her unconscious laying position, and flew away down the hall to another chamber. Balrog suspected she was sent into the Psycho Drive chamber.

"For this very essential job, I will give you a month of vacation," Vega said. "Have well rest."

"I do not need rest," Balrog replied. "I need an answer to one question."

Vega turned confused, then slightly angry. If it was any other man besides his three hands, Vega would have killed him instantly for even asking a question to him. But he held back to Balrog. Balrog was an assassin. One of Shadaloo's best.

"… a complaint?"

"What are you going to do with Cammy?" Balrog said calmly.

Vega stood up and floated in the air, his cloak slowly flapping by his side. "That is no concern for you. Go. I have no time. I'm on the hunt for a man even more wanted than this woman. And I know no one is good enough to catch him. All except me. So, I cannot have such stupid questions."

"Still, I must know the consequences of catching this woman," Balrog said. "You told me to terminate her."

"But you didn't kill her, did you?" Vega said.

Balrog himself was confused. What was the meaning of termination?

"There is a difference between killing and terminating," Vega said. "I am sure I explained this to all three of you. For me, killing is ending one's life. And terminating is more complex. It is, in a way, worse than death."

"And I do this all for nothing?" Balrog said darkly.

Vega cackled. "My good friend, I have offered you a month vacation of peace. Is that not enough?"

"I do not need a vacation," Balrog replied hastily, "just tell me what you'll do to the girl!"

"Desperacy is never good, Balrog," Vega said angrily, "You have gained harmony throughout this quiet mission… how?"

Balrog breathed softly. For once, he wanted to take off his mask and look Vega in the eye with frustration. But that would cause him something any innocent person would earn for gratis. "Because I learned that innocuous living things should not be used," he said finally.

"I have several morals, and here is one of them," Vega said, his eyes blazing, "… kill. And kill before they kill you. And kill the witnesses. All, today, have given me this seat—this throne of the notorious Shadaloo!!!"

"Notorious…," Balrog said. He remained paused for a while, with Vega breathing heavily while waiting for him to continue. "I always wanted a place of animosity in everyone's hearts for me. But I took out _my_ thirst with these claws. When I learnt that people hated me and my face, I knew at once that I must fight with life. And I drew my pain in other peoples' blood—with _these_ claws. Today, however, I hesitate."

"And… _why_?"

"Because…."

Balrog couldn't think of what he had to say.

"Because?" Vega asked.

"….."

Still nothing. Noticing his mind was blank, Vega sat there for two minutes. Then: "I'm departing to India. Take the vacation and return within a month. I cannot take the risk of mitigating the pleasure I take as other people's misery."

And so, Vega left, leaving a dark mist that reflected Balrog's thoughts. Balrog walked away. And then, with a rush of enthusiasm, he decided to go to the Psycho Drive chamber. He wasn't stupid; he knew there were cameras inside. So, he crushed the wall from the outside, hitting the cameras on the inside and causing them to fall and shatter. He walked in.

There she was: Cammy White, laying helplessly inside a case, surrounded by glass. She was unconscious.

Balrog drew his claws and placed them on the glass. _She does not deserve such a fate. To hell with it!_ Knowing there is no one to listen to him, he decided to say the answer to himself.

"…. Because, Vega… you're one of those that I always should have killed, but never did. And now, I realize that."


	13. Conclusion on This Story

Wow, it's been a long long time. I'm a nostalgic person, and recently remembered my childhood love for writing, which lead me back to my work here on this site. I must say, for anyone who is curious, that I was determined to finish that Street Fighter fanfic. Not doing so is one of my greatest regrets, I felt like I was really developing the story well and, unlike other fanfics, was tying the entire Street Fighter Universe in the same story - mostly following the canon.

The sad and simple truth is that my computer had crashed and needed to be restored, and I had not backed up my story plan before having to format the hard drive. I had worked hard on this story plan, carefully planning each chapter and record-keeping all references and side-stories in order to tie loose ends between older and newer chapters. I still remember I had around 36 chapters planned out. It was all stored in a text file, and I had not backed it up anywhere.

Needless to say - and I know that 10 years is a long time wait for the next chapter, which I highly doubt anyone is doing - this story won't be completed.

I'm really sorry about that, and it saddens me the most.

I still welcome you to rate the chapters that I have out there for this story though. I think it's a great story, and I impressed myself reading my own work, especially knowing I was only 14 years old at the time of writing it.

Thank you!


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